Budget 2020 'disappointing' for Kerala, says chief minister

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that his state has nothing to cheer at in the Union budget 2020 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in parliament on Saturday.

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"The budget appears to have ignored the needs of our state cutting across sectors. The share of taxes is going to suffer and it only remains to be seen to what extent the drop would be. Not a single demand of our infrastructural needs have been addressed. Overall, Kerala has got nothing to cheer," he said in a statement.

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Economics professor-turned-state Finance Minister Thomas Issac was even sharper and said it appears Kerala has been targeted.

"The budget has nothing and it is like a war against Kerala. It now appears that unless the BJP government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes, Kerala will not get anything. Kerala has got a raw deal in the award of the Finance Commission too. In the last fiscal we got Rs17,872 crore and this time it's Rs15,236 crore. This is clearly targeting Kerala," he said.

State Congress president Mullapally Ramachandran also slammed the BJP government for ignoring the felt needs of Kerala.

"Kerala has drawn a blank and has been ignored. This is a budget for the corporates as even the country's rural population has been totally ignored as it has got nothing even for a novel programme like rural employment guarantee scheme. It is one which will escalate the deepening financial crisis that our country is going through," he said.

Indo-Asian News Service