The Left parties on Thursday called the budget a “big jumla” (rhetoric) of the government which has elections on its mind. “This budget, being the last one for this government, clearly shows it is announcing the schemes keeping in mind the coming Lok Sabha polls. CPI leader D Raja said the Union budget shows the “desperate attempts of the government to hoodwink the people” in 2018, in which several state polls will take place and “probably the Lok Sabha polls too”. “Even scheduled castes and tribes have lost their priority in government schemes,” Mr. Salim said. “Everybody cannot fry ‘pakoras’ There is a serious distortion between employment and investment,” Mr. Salim said, taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Source: The Hindu February 01, 2018 11:26 UTC