“BJP wasted budget session on unsubstantiated WikiLeaks”

The Congress on Monday accused the Opposition parties of wasting the budget session of Parliament due to their lack of commitment to Parliamentary democracy.

“The Opposition parties have once again gone ahead and wasted the budget session due to their lack of commitment to Parliamentary democracy. It is amazing that for the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] holding up the functioning of the budget session by unsubstantiated WikiLeaks reports that the whole world has ignored, and later came to haunt the BJP itself, was more important than debating and discussing the economic planning and the future of India,” the party wrote in its latest edition of Congress Sandesh .

“The budget session is the most important session when the allocation for the various Ministries and various programmes is made. This should have been discussed and debated in Parliament so that the public would have been better informed about the budget provisions,” it said. “It is indeed a matter of great regret that this did not happen. The BJP should answer the public as to why it failed to discuss such an important issue and instead wasted the tax payers' money by forcing constant adjournments in Parliament,” the party mouthpiece said.

Appreciating the budget, the party has said that it was a good and balanced budget and put the United Progressive Alliance government's goals of inclusive development at the forefront. Allocations for the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and other social development programmes were increased as were funds for infrastructure development and education.

Goods and Services Tax

One of the main issues raised by the Finance Minister during his budget speech was the need to swiftly put in place and implement the all-India Goods and Services Tax by 2012. A united tax regime that would help pave the way for India to become a truly single market. This would allow a freer movement of goods and services between States and thus help overcome the bottlenecks on the supply side. This was especially important for perishable agricultural commodities.

“We hope that Opposition governments in States will not use political ideology as a way of holding back a reform that will only have a positive impact on the economy as a whole,” it said.