UP budget: Govt has no vision for development, says Akhilesh

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the budget for 2021-22 presented by the Uttar Pradesh government shows it has no vision for development and is only taking forward schemes introduced by the erstwhile SP dispensation by renaming them.

The 'vidai budget (farewell budget)' of the BJP government has upset every section of society as it did not offer anything new, Yadav claimed.

The Yogi Adityanath government presented the last budget of its term on Monday, earmarking a big slice of it for infrastructural projects and listing schemes for farmers.

Presented by Finance Minister Suresh Khanna in the assembly, the over Rs 5.5 lakh crore budget is more than Rs 37,410 crore bigger than the previous one, making it the largest in the state so far.

Addressing a press conference here, Yadav said, "No one understood the UP budget. It is just data and not reality. There is nothing on the ground. The government has no vision for development and is only carrying forward schemes of the erstwhile SP government by renaming them." The state government is only trying to copy what the Centre is doing, he claimed.

"When the government in Delhi talked about (making India) a 5 trillion USD economy, the UP government also spoke about making the state a 1 trillion USD economy. There is no mention of how it will be achieved in the budget.

"The UP government talked about sustainable goals but what will happen on the ground and what infrastructure has been developed for that was never mentioned," he said.

Yadav demanded the government make it clear how much investment was received through investment meets and what has been done for power generation and distribution.

"How many thermal plants, (construction work for) which started during the SP regime, have been completed?" he asked. The SP chief also asked the state government what it has done for farmers. He said the budget did not say anything about the creation of new 'mandis'.

Yadav claimed the budget has upset every section of society. It did not offer anything new and only included old schemes. It was the 'vidai budget' of the BJP government, he said.

According to the 2021-22 state budget, at least Rs 600 crore will be spent on the development and beautification of Ayodhya, including Rs 300 crore for an approach road to the Ram temple for which construction began last year after decades of litigation.

With the assembly elections just a year away, the budget includes Rs 27,598 crore for what are being described as new schemes and projects.

On Adityanath's statement in the state assembly regarding members donning caps in the House, Yadav said the chief minister might have forgotten that he too wore caps on several occasions. Later, pictures of Adityanath sporting different caps were displayed on a screen at the press conference venue.

Earlier in the day, Adityanath recalled in the assembly how a child described a politician donning a cap as "goonda" (goon) once and appealed to members to see that the august House did not look like a "drama company".

Later, he reached out to Leader of the Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary sitting on the opposite side with his Samajwadi Party's bright red cap on. "It would have looked nice if you had used a turban or a 'safa'," the CM said smilingly.

Replying to a question, Yadav claimed the current government has lodged fake FIRs against 10,000 people for participating in the ongoing farmers' agitation against the Centre's new agriculture laws. He alleged the BJP spreads hatred and lies, and lodges FIRs to intimidate those who talk against it.