The Hindu : Election budget, says Opposition

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 24, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Election budget, says Opposition

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 23. The Opposition LDF today alleged that the Finance Minister, K. Sankaranarayanan, had prepared his budget proposals for 2004-05 with an eye on the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Addressing a press conference here today, leaders of various LDF constituents alleged that most of the budget proposals parried to factional interests of the ruling MLAs, and those who had shifted camp from the Karunakaran faction had been doled out favourable budgetary allocation for various schemes in their respective constituencies.

The Leader of the Opposition, V.S. Achuthanandan, in his preliminary reaction to the budget, expressed concern at the increasing debt position, which had gone up from Rs. 23,000 crores to Rs. 35,000 crores at the end of the two-and-a-half years of UDF rule. He said that higher borrowings did not reflect in the implementation of the State's annual plan, which had been cut repeatedly during the last two years.

The Finance Minister has allocated funds for various schemes, giving the impression that he was setting the stage for a major development initiative and that he was doling out social welfare benefits for a cross section of the people. But the Minister's budget speech discloses that the real intention is to mislead the people on the eve of an election. The budget proposals are non-implementable and it is doubtful whether they would be implemented at all, he said.

The CPI State secretary, Veliyam Bharghavan, said the budget papers clearly indicated that the UDF Government had led the State into a debt trap. There was no justification for the steep rise in public debt, which has gone up by Rs 12,000 crores, and the revenue deficit, which has touched Rs. 3,676 crores. The budget does not have any concrete proposals to overcome the current financial crisis.

The CPI leader, K.P. Rajendran, said the Finance Minister's emphasis on poverty alleviation would come to nought in view of the drastic change in the composition of those living below the poverty line. According to the latest BPL list, to be published soon, the percentage of those living below the poverty line would come to just 10 per cent. This would mean that the poverty alleviation programmes proposed in the budget would benefit only a small segment, Mr. Rajendran said. The Janata Dal leader, Neelalohitadasan Nadar, said the Finance Minister was silent about the closure of a large number of public sector undertakings, some of them profit-making ones. The NCP leader, A.C. Shanmughadas, said that the Finance Minister had failed to make sufficient budgetary allocation for drought relief, even though it had become certain by now that the State was on the threshold of severe drought.

The RSP leader, A.A. Azeez, said the Finance Minister had not made any budgetary allocation to save several public sector undertakings. The Kerala Congress (George) leader, P.C. George, said some of the revenue mobilisation measures, such as the hike in tax rates for white kerosene, would have an impact on the fisheries sector.

The Congress (S) leader, V.C. Kabeer, protested against the Finance Minister's failure to make the necessary budgetary provisions for sustaining the State's achievement in the health sector.

The Congress (S) State president, Ramachandran Kadannapally, said in Kozhikode that the most striking feature of the budget was the huge deficit it showed in collective responsibility. ``This deficit budget reflects the inner conflicts in the ruling UDF. '' he said.

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