On farm and tax sops in interim Budget, Manmohan Singh says ‘it will impact Lok Sabha election’ 

Manmohan Singh

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Friday, said the BJP-led government's interim Union Budget, presented by the Union minister Piyush Goyal, will have implications on the general election due in April-May. The government presented the Budget with big giveaways to the middle class, small farmers and the rural population in what is being seen as a critical test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi just weeks ahead of the election.

Singh also called the interim Budget an “election budget”.

Singh, who is credited for the economic pathbreaking economic reforms in 1991 when he was the finance minister in the PV Narasimha Rao Cabinet, said the government has not worked out the expenditure in the interim Budget.

Singh further said, for the BJP that is seeking re-election in May, Friday’s Budget was the last chance to cover its bases after it lost three Hindi heartland states in last year’s assembly elections to main opposition Congress.

Related