While BJP allies — the Shiv Sena and the Shiromani Akali Dal — expressed mixed reactions to the budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hailed it as “progressive, positive, practical, pragmatic and prudent.”
“This is a budget with a vision,” he tweeted. “It has a distinct focus on farmers, youth, poor, neo-middle class and ‘aam nagrik’ and delivers on growth, equity and job creation.”
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the budget highlighted the contours of a “new India” while BJP chief Amit Shah observed that it will “help in poverty elimination, provide social security to people and help in development of the nation.”
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The Shiv Sena, however, said the budget raised hope on several counts but the Finance Minister should have avoided the hike in service tax.
“There are several hopeful things about the budget. But we feel the service tax hike should have been avoided and some relief should have been given by reducing petrol and diesel prices to curb inflation,” Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe said in Mumbai.
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While Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal welcomed the budget, especially the setting up of an AIIMS and a horticulture institute in Punjab, her fellow SAD member in Rajya Sabha Balwinder Singh Bhunder said there was overall “relief for industry but nothing special for farmers.”
“This is a transformational budget,” said Lok Janshakti Party MP Chirag Paswan.
“In the next four to five years when we will see a better economic situation, this budget would have made an important contribution,” he said.