The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly's Monsoon Session began on Wednesday, June 27. On the second day of the session, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar presented the interim Budget ahead of assembly elections, likely in October 2024.
The Mahayuti government made a major announcement for farmers, youth, and women through the state budget during the monsoon session of the Maharashtra Assembly on Friday.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray attacked the NDA-led Maharashtra government over the Budget 2024 announcement. Thackeray said that this is the "carrot" budget and that the people of Maharashtra will not trust the Mahayuti government. "People of state will not trust them. Maharashtra now has gone behind Gujarat. Their attempt is to mislead people, come to power and loot again. The budget was a Flood of fake promises. There are many schemes they have announced in the last two years which have not even begun yet," Thackeray said.
Thackeray said that the government tried to influence women of state, but there are no schemes for men. "Attempt to attract women. I had said that we would welcome schemes for women. But also give something for men. The youth is unemployed. There is no provision for job creation in the budget. They have decided to write off the power bills of farmers. We had demanded that they write off the loans of the farmers," he added.
"18,000 crore collection is being done from agriculture products and tools like pesticides and fertilizers, but are writing off bills worth 6,000 crore. Where is the rest of the 12,000 crores? I ask it's financial budget or jumla budget," he said.
The former Maharashtra CM said, "People will not forgive those who have looted them and will give the right answer in assembly polls. They have increased provisions for the Maulana Azad scheme. So has this government left Hindutva now?"
"This is a Gajar (carrot) budget. They have just given carrots to people. I am pained by the fact that Maharashtra has gone down to 6th rank in per capita income," he added.
Nana Patole
Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole also reacted to the Maharashtra Budget 2024, describing it as a "rain of announcements."
"Budget was like a rain of announcements. There are 12-13 districts where it hasn't rained yet. The budget has a hint of five guarantees promised by the Congress in Lok Sabha Election. This is 60% Commission government. This is an attempt to mislead people. Karnataka Government wrote off all Farmers' loans. We had demanded the same. But the govt has deceived farmers," said Patole.
"There is no mention of job creation in budget. This is an empty and election-oriented budget. First ever budget in history where finance minister did not specifify departmentwise allocation. Such bogus and empty budget is first in the state. It is designed to mislead people," he further stated.
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Jayant Patil
Jayant Patil, the former finance minister and state president of Sharad Pawar's NCP, has also criticised the Eknath Shinde-led government over the state Budget 2024. Patil said this government has made a lot of announcements due to the fear of defeat ahead of Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024
"Chadar fatt gayi hai isliye khairat baatne ki koshish'. This is the last ditch attempt ahead of assembly elections. They are playing with numbers, they are pretending to reduce petrol diesel rates. They will increase it again after election," Patil said.
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"They are not coming back to power, they know it. So they are making announcement of distributing money. Budget only an attempt to please specific sections of society just by announcement. Para 101 in budget states that they have formed a evaluation committee to implement the budget. This means they have not made any preparations ahead of announcement. This committee will now review the schemes announced.," he said.
"This is budget for 2.5 months. They have announced assistance for Warkaris. Even Shivaji Maharaj had sent nazrana for Tukaram maharaj but he refused to touch it. Prashant Maharaj More has already stated that Warkaris don't need 20,000 assistance. People of Maharashtra themselves ensure that Wari is organised properly and everyone is fed," he added.