Union Budget 2018: Rahul Gandhi, P Chidambaram 'Thankful' but the reason won't impress Arun Jaitley

About four hours after the Finance Minister concluded his Budget Speech in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi has issued one of his now customary Twitter attacks.

The Congress President, no stranger to taking to social media to criticise Arun Jaitley, has written:

4 years gone; still promising FARMERS a fair price. 

4 years gone; FANCY SCHEMES, with NO matching budgets. 

4 years gone; no JOBS for our YOUTH. 

Thankfully, only 1 more year to go.

Meanwhile, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has buttressed his party leader's view by putting out a statement full of economy-related criticisms

His statement does, however, begin with:

"The Budget for 2018-19 was presented today. It is the last full budget of this government, and I should add 'thank God for that'."

Chidambaram begins with his highlights from the Economic Survey that was released on Monday.

He then lists his Big Disappointments from the Budget - 

1. Fiscal deficit: The FM failed the fiscal consolidation test
2. Exports: I did not hear any measures to boost exports
3. Agriculture: There is a promise to increase MSP 1.5 times, but there are no details
4. Healthcare: The promise of Rs 5 lakh per family for secondary and tertiary healthcare is a big jumla
5. Jobs: The FM has no new ideas and has fallen back on the tried and failed Mudra scheme
6. Investment and Credit: There was nothing in the Budget to boost private investment.
7. Tax Relief: There is no tax relief to the average tax-payer
8. Slashing allocations: The most disappointing part of the budget is the cut in the outlays on major schemes for 2018-10. He cites MGNREGA, PMAY, National Drinking Water Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission and others (Some UPA schemes, some NDA schemes)

Here is the statement in full:

Earlier, Congress Media-in-charge Randeep Surjewala had tweeted his own criticism, starting off with:

"Modinomics + Jaitleynomics =  Jumlanomics"