Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], February 21 : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday criticised the Gujarat Budget, alleging that it failed to provide relief to ordinary citizens.
He said the budget did not allocate adequate provisions for key sectors such as education, healthcare, farmers, traders and women.
During a press conference in Ahmedabad, Kejriwal said, "The Gujarat Budget was presented a few days ago, and people had high expectations from it. The common man's budget depends mostly on government allocations, covering household expenses and children's education. However, this budget has offered nothing for ordinary citizens."
"Nothing for education, healthcare, farmers, businessmen, or women. It serves no section of society... When elections approach, governments provide some relief or benefits to the people, but the Gujarat government does not seem to care about that," he said.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also criticised the Gujarat Budget, alleging that it offers no relief to common people and primarily benefits big businessmen.
"The Gujarat Budget has offered nothing for the common people. The Centre's budget and the Gujarat budget appear similar, as they are prepared by the same people. This budget serves only big businessmen. There is no opposition in Gujarat to raise issues," Punjab CM said.
He said that the state budget mirrors the Centre's budget and accused the Congress of failing to act as an effective opposition in Gujarat.
"Congress is aligned with the BJP, as they have business interests to protect. The common man will protest against this, as his tax money has not returned to him in the form of benefits," he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel presented the state's budget for 2026-27, emphasising social welfare, infrastructure development, economic growth, and green initiatives. The Chief Minister described the budget as reflecting trust-based governance and a human-centric economic framework, aimed at empowering all sections of society, particularly the poor, youth, farmers, and women.
The budget, presented in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly by Finance Minister Kanubhai Desai, has an outlay of Rs. 4.08 lakh crore, marking a 10.2 per cent increase over the previous year. Of this, 65 per cent of total expenditure has been earmarked for developmental purposes, focusing on education, health, agriculture, irrigation, urban development, and social welfare.
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