The Union Budget 2024-25 announced today by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was praised by the ruling party, while the opposition Congress slammed the Centre for not offering anything for Gujarat. 

Gujarat Finance Minister Kanu Desai praised the Union Budget 2024 for multiple aspects.

Desai praised the budget for its focus on children, women, elderly, and for creating job opportunities  for the youth.

Desai emphasised on how the budget will cut down prices for solar kits, which would benefit the solar parks, especially in Kutch.

On the other hand, the leader of the opposition in Gujarat, Amit Chavda of Congress said that the budget is not for people, but to save the government. He also pointed out that the budget is “for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh”.

“The fear of Bihar's Nitish Kumar and Andhra Pradesh's Chandrababu Naidu is clearly visible in the budget,” Chavda said, adding that the budget is “for saving the seat”.

“Looking at the entire budget, there is no special package or announcement for Gujarat, so the people of Gujarat are disappointed,” Chavda said.

The Congress leader said that there was no mention of disaster-related relief for Gujarat, despite the natural calamities that have occurred over the years.

On the budget mentioning jobs for five crore youth in next five years, he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised two crore jobs for youth every year back in 2014.

“There is nothing for Gujarat’s farmers in the budget, but the import duty on ammonium nitrate is increased by 10%, making it more expensive for the farmers,” he said.

“Despite having a Gujarati Prime Minister, Gujarat has been treated unfairly and neglected in this budget. This budget is to ‘save the government and increase inflation’.”