Former Union minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram said the Budget presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal was not interim, but a “full-fledged Budget “not a Vote on Account but an Account for Votes…by a government whose term will effectively end in about 90 days.”

The Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal tested our patience by the longest interim budget speech in the recent memory. By doing so, the government has trampled on time-honoured conventions. However, The government’s budget ahead of the General elections due by May focused on populist measures, including biggest income tax sops for middle class, complete exemption for income up to Rs 5 lakh, and Rs 6,000 annual cash dole to poor farmers in a scheme that will cost Rs 75,000 crore per year.

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Converting a vote on account speech into an almost full-fledged budget announcement in Lok Sabha, Piyush Goyal proposed an collection of incentives for both middle class and farmers, whose disenchantment was said to have cost the BJP dearly in recent assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. While adding that the Congress’ promise to provide minimum income if it comes to power will bring “true relief to all the poor households/families of the country, both farmer and non-farmer and both rural and urban.

Reacting to Goyal’s assertion that the poor have the first right on the country’s resources, Chidambaram thanked the interim Finance Minister for “copying the Congress’ declaration.”

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