Maharashtra Interim Budget Presented with Lok Sabha Polls in Mind: Sharad Pawar’s NCP

The opposition Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) on Tuesday said the interim budget for FY 2024-25 presented in the Maharashtra Assembly by the Eknath Shinde government was supposed to be for the next four months, but it was presented as a full budget keeping in mind the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Party’s state president Jayant Patil said the budget was also an attempt by the Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP government to shore up its declining popularity.

“An interim budget is supposed to be for the next four months, but the government has presented a budget like it is a full-budget. The budget has been prepared by keeping the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in mind,” claimed Patil, a former state finance minister.He said the Prime Minister and Union Finance Minister had set certain precedents while presenting the central budget, but they were trampled upon by while presenting the state budget.

Patil said the ’Mahayuti’ government has not followed any financial planning while preparing the budget and announced sops for certain sections in a bid to woo them.Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the finance portfolio, presented the interim budget in the Assembly with a provision of Rs 6.52 lakh crore for total expenditure for the year 2024-25 with a revenue deficit of Rs 9,734 crore.

The budget proposed no new taxes. A supplementary budget (full budget) will be presented after the Lok Sabha elections, likely to be held in April-May, Pawar said.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)