MP state budget pro-poor; Kamal Nath, Digvijaya govts made farmers defaulters: BJP

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], March 1 : With the Madhya Pradesh government presenting the state budget on Wednesday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president VD Sharma termed it as a pro-farmer budget and accused the previous Congress governments of making farmers defaulters.
VD Sharma said this budget is all-inclusive and touches every section of society.
"This budget reflects the voice of the poor. This is a budget to bring change in the lives of the people. This is a historic budget for the farmers. The way the Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh governments had defaulted the farmers, a provision has been made in the budget to make those defaulters non-defaulters. This budget is pro-farmers," Sharma said.
The Madhya Pradesh BJP chief while addressing a press conference earlier said that the budget will fulfil the resolve to make the state self-reliant. This time the government has not imposed any new tax. The government launched the "Ladli Bahna" scheme for women and made provisions for it in the budget, he said.
"The important thing about the budget is that it was prepared after taking suggestions from the people. This budget is dedicated to the farmers, labourers, sisters and daughters of the state," added Sharma.
Congress legislators led by former chief minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday staged a walkout from the Madhya Pradesh Assembly in protest against the price hike in the domestic and commercial LPG cylinders.
The walkout took place as the government today presented a Rs 3.14 lakh crore state budget for 2023-24.
Congress members including former ministers Tarun Bhanot, Vijay Laxmi Sadho and Jitu Patwari created ruckus in the House over the LPG price hike issue the moment state Finance Minister Jagdish Devda started reading out the budget proposals.
Speaking to ANI, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) Chief Kamal Nath lashed out at the BJP-led state government for the budget proposals.
"We had demanded that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan should reduce the price of an LPG cylinder by Rs 500 in Madhya Pradesh. He (CM Chouhan) did not give the assurance, so we walked out of the assembly," Kamal Nath said.
"The state government is spoiling the budget of the households along with the budgets of women over the in the last three years as they had promised they would give Rs 1000 to the women. It is only their politics," Kamal Nath added.
Notably, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had earlier this month said Rs 1000 per month will be given to women in the state under the 'Ladli Behna Yojana' from International Women's day on March 8 this year.
Congress workers also staged a protest against the price hike in the domestic and commercial LPG cylinders outside the state assembly this morning.
The budget session of the Madhya Pradesh assembly began on Monday.