Thiruvananthapuram: Barring the lone BJP MP and Union Minister Suresh Gopi, all the other Members of Parliament from Kerala flayed the second budget of the third Narendra Modi government, presented by Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday.
Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha members and nine Rajya Sabha members, and all, except Gopi, are from the Congress-led United Democratic Front or the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front.
While all the MPs welcomed the raising of the exemption limit to Rs 12 lakh for individuals in the annual income bracket, who will no longer pay income tax, the rest of the Budget 2025-26 came under attack.
Veteran RSP MP N.K.Premachandran said on the face of it, the raising of the annual income tax exemption to Rs 12 lakh is welcome and apart from that, there is nothing much in it. “What one should understand is there is nothing to cheer not just for Kerala but all the South Indian states. The agriculture sector in the country has nothing kept aside for it,” said Premachandran.
CPI-M Rajya Sabha member, John Brittas said when Sitharaman presented her previous budget, the most vocal was Gopi who said Kerala will have to wait for the next budget and now it has been presented and there is nothing in it for the state.
“All are speaking of the raising in the income tax limit and this benefits just 2 per cent of the population, so what is there for the others? It’s a disappointing one,” he said.
Senior IUML MP E.T. Mohammed Basheer said that there is no judicious distribution of wealth and it’s not a fair apportion. “Kerala has been totally left out and there is not a single national institute for Kerala. This is nothing but a political budget,” he said.
Congress MP Rajmohan Unnithan said who doesn’t know that this is a budget with the upcoming Bihar elections in mind and Kerala has been ignored.
Kerala Finance Minister K.N.Balagopal said there is no difference from the previous PM Narendra Modi government budgets. “We expected certain basic things for Kerala which includes a special package… The Wayanad landslide package was expected, but nothing is there. No mention of Vizhinjam Port is there. Kerala has not been given the due share from the Centre and when we should have got over Rs 14,000 crore, we have been given only around Rs 4,000 crore,” he said.
(IANS)
