Budget is defeatist, a big letdown: Congress

February 01, 2018 18:06

Terming Budget 2018-19 "defeatist" and a "big letdown", the Congress today said the government has "thrown in the towel" and conceded that it has failed to address key issues in the economy.

The budget proposals should have been "bold and radical", senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram said.

"It is a defeatist budget. I think they have thrown in the towel. It is a budget of a government which has conceded that it has failed to address key issues in the economy... Unfortunately, the budget proposals are a big

letdown," Chidambaram said.

Chidambaram also picked holes in the government's budgetary promise of providing insurance coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh to 10 crore poor families and said it was a "big jumla" (gimmick).

"The finance minister fails the fiscal consolidation test and this failure will have serious consequences," Chidambaram earlier in the day, soon after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley completed his budget speech.

-- PTI

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