Tamil Nadu CM says Union Budget 2018-19 balanced, opposition says disappointing

Chennai : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K.Palaniswami on Thursday commended Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for presenting a balanced growth-oriented budget for 2018-19, but state's major opposition parties like DMK and PMK termed it "disappointing".

In a statement issued here, Palaniswami said: "The country is going through a difficult phase of economic development. It needs acceleration and stabilisation of the growth momentum. The budget should give a boost to increase investment, generate more jobs.

"Given these circumstances, this budget is addressing the critical issues effectively and the Union Finance Minister has put his best efforts to present a balanced and growth oriented budget."

However Palaniswami said the standard deduction of Rs.40,000 introduced for salaried class while computing their taxable income falls short of public expectations.

He said that the setting-up of the Fisheries & Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund and Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund with a total corpus of Rs 10,000 crore announced by Jaitley will provide a significant impetus to the agriculture and allied sectors.

Welcoming the liberalisation of agricultural exports announced by Jaitley, Palaniswami also added that Tamil Nadu would benefit from the mega food park scheme of the central government.

Referring to the budget proposal to give special focus on expanding the suburban train systems capacity in Mumbai and Bengaluru, he pointed out Chennai was left out despite the city expanding faster.

PMK founder S. Ramadoss termed the budget a "largely disappointing one" while DMK leader M.K.Stalin termed it as "a string of decorative announcements."

In a statement here, Ramadoss said the proposals pertaining to agriculture announced by Jaitley will benefit the people only if these were implemented properly.

As this is the last full budget of the Modi government, he said there were expectations about announcements that would benefit the people but it did not happen, while much was expected for agriculture and rural development but there was "no major change this time".

According to Stalin, the BJP government should carry out a self-introspection about its poll promises, the announcements made by it during the past four years and their fulfillment.

He said the budget is silent on farmer's suicides and writing off their loans.