After the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the Union Budget 2018 at the parliament, several ministers opposed his decisions and said fiscal arithmetic is at fault. However, several of BJP members and ministers welcome his decision and gives unconditional support to him.
Former Prime Minister HD Dewe Gowda admitted that the finance minister had attempted to introduce measures for farmers, but he said they made not be enough. “The problems of farmers and rural people are enormous,” he said. “The measures may not be sufficient.”
Leaders and ministers from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party praised the Budget:
Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari hailed the Budget calling it “historic”.He applauded the medical insurance scheme that aims to reach 10 crore families.
BJP National President Amit Shah claimed that there were a plethora of schemes in the Budget for farmers, the poor, Dalits and Adivasis. “The Budget is in the spirit of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’”.
Smriti Irani, minister of textiles and information and broadcasting, took to Twitter saying that the Budget focused on “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” and “gives impetus to the ‘ease of living’ of citizens”.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh called the Budget 2018 “envisions a paradigm shift in economic priorities” and sure to help overcome “the gap between rural and urban areas of our country”.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal supported the Budget’s declarations on the fiscal deficit and said the Congress had approved the fiscal deficit to extend from 2.9% to over 5% of the GDP in the same year [before the 2009 elections]. “If that is fiscal prudence, we will have to revisit the definition of fiscal prudence in India,” he told ANI.
Union minister Ananth Kumar hailed the budget by calling it a “transformational Budget” which will “bring about a positive change in everyone’s lives”.
Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for the Prime Minister’s Office, commented on the Budget saying that the budget covered people of all segments and focused on “ease of living”.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar “congratulated” the government for the Budget and proclaimed the health protection scheme a “huge initiative”.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath, too congratulated Jaitley and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asserting that the Budget has excellent schemes for the poor, rural sector, farmers and senior citizens.