Fri, Mar 14 03:13 AM
The CPI(M) on Thursday said it would strongly oppose any move to disinvest public sector companies in order to generate funds to pay for the loan waiver for farmers announced in the Union Budget.
CPI(M) Politburo member Brinda Karat said she had seen statements by the Prime Minister and Finance Minister indicating that the Government might take recourse to such a step. "Let me tell you that our party will strongly oppose any such move," Brinda said while participating in a debate over the Budget in the Rajya Sabha.
"The loan waiver is a good step and the Government must provide funds for it. But it cannot be done by selling off stakes in PSUs. The Government cannot be pitting farmers against labourers," she said.
Brinda said provisions for raising this amount should have been made in the Budget itself. "The debt waiver is not linked to the Budget. There is no indication as to where the Government will raise the necessary funds from," she said, even as she welcomed the proposal.
Describing most of the provisions of the Budget as "half-hearted and tokenist", Brinda attacked the Government for failing to check rising prices.
BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi criticised the Finance Minister for presenting "a communal budget" and said the Government was trying to propagate a myth that Muslims were being discriminated against in this country.
"This Budget is against common man, against growth and against the unity and integrity of the country," he said.
SP's Amar Singh said the promise of debt waiver sounded doubtful since the Government had made no budgetary allocation for it.
