Punjab, MP leaders urge reforms and aid in Budget 2025
Feb 01, 2025
New Delhi [India], February 1 : As the Union Budget 2025 is presented, leaders from Punjab and Madhya Pradesh raised concerns about key issues such as inflation, agriculture, and national debt.
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, speaking to ANI, congratulated Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman but also highlighted the state's specific needs.
"I congratulate Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she is going to present the budget today. When there was a pre-budget meeting in Jaisalmer, we made a memorandum and gave it to the Government of India and the Finance Minister," he said.
"We have demanded that a special package should be given to Punjab as it is an agrarian state and we need to diversify (crops). We have also demanded for the legal guarantee of MSP," he continued.
Cheema also expressed concern over rising inflation and the government's role in addressing it. "Whether it is about gas rendering, whether it is about income tax, whether it is about daily necessities, the inflation is increasing in the country. So I think BJP will try to reduce inflation," he added.
Meanwhile, in Madhya Pradesh, State Congress President Jitendra Jitu Patwari also raised alarm about the country's financial situation.
"The country is in debt of Rs 270 lakh crore. The situation is getting worse day by day and inflation is increasing. The poor in the country are becoming poorer and the rich are becoming richer," he said. "Even before this, whenever Modi ji has brought the Budget, the country has been disappointed."
Earlier, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said that the Union Budget 2025-26 will be a pro-people, pro-poor, pro-middle class Budget as it has been since "the economy of this country started being taken care of under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi."
"Ever since economy of this country started being taken care of under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, we have given pro-people, pro-poor, pro-middle class Budget. It will be the same this time," Joshi told reporters in the Parliament premises.
Nirmala Sitharaman presented her record eighth consecutive Budget on Saturday at 11 am in Lok Sabha. The Budget speech outlines the government's fiscal policies, revenue and expenditure proposals, taxation reforms, and other significant announcements.
