Uddhav Thackeray dubs Maharashtra Govt’s Budget as gajar halwa

TIL Desk/National/Mumbai/ The Shiv Sena faction headed by Uddhav Thackeray on Friday dubbed the Maharashtra government’s Budget 2023-24 as ‘gajar halwa’, and accused the Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation of peddling false dreams in an election year by showering sops on people. In its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, the party said Deputy Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who presented the budget in the state Assembly on Thursday, showered assurances but did not show generosity in announcing compensation to farmers who suffered losses due to unseasonal rains earlier this week.

 Fadnavis, who is also the state Finance Minister, presented the Shinde government’s maiden budget, in which it proposed Rs 6,000 assistance to farmers and Re 1 crop insurance scheme while also offering relief in professional tax to working women, a 50 percent discount on ticket fares in state-run buses to women and a new scheme for the girl child.

Elections are due in various civic bodies in the state, including the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The state Assembly elections would be due in October 2024. Referring to the announcement of paying Rs 6,000 to farmers under the ‘Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi’ to supplement the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Samman Nidhi Yojana, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) said the budget did not speak about the compensation to farmers who lost their crop to hailstorm and unseasonal rains. Large parts of the state witnessed unseasonal rains resulting in damage to standing crops. “The budget is a ‘gajar halwa’ (sweet dish made of carrots) of announcements that are aimed at misleading people,” the party said.