Touching a raw nerve
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that the country would mark the centenary of the Champaran satyagraha led by Mahatma Gandhi, along with that of the Sabarmati Ashram. This clubbing of the two centenaries has upset Janata Dal(U) leader K.C. Tyagi, who said it shows “Gujarati chauvinism” but ignores “Bihari subnationalism.”
Like chalk and cheese
The Telugu Desam Party and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) have supported demonetisation, but have widely diverging reactions to the Union Budget.
While the TDP was happy that the capital gains tax was waived on land being used for the construction of the new capital of Andhra Pradesh in Amaravati, the BJD was upset that its demand for ₹5,780 crore was reduced to an allocation of some ₹3,000 crore.
Echoes of the election
Samajwadi Party ranks in the Lok Sabha appeared sadly depleted, with only Kannauj MP Dimple Yadav, present during the budget presentation. Her father-in-law, Mulayam Singh Yadav, and two brothers-in-law, Dharmendra and Akshay Yadav, were away. Dharmendra Yadav had in fact attended an all-party meeting called by the government before the session, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him why he wasn’t busy campaigning in Uttar Pradesh.
Video:
Business Editor Suresh Seshadri and Senior Deputy Editor Bharat Kumar Kalyanasundaram discuss the Union Budget 2017, the economy and the common man.
