One of the shortest speeches on record: Congress slams Nirmala Sitaraman's interim Budget 2024

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor at Parliament House complex during the Budget session, in New Delhi on Thursday/ Pic/PTI

As the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitaraman presented the interim Budget 2024 for the country on Thursday in Lok Sabha, the Congress has slammed the interim budget speech saying, 'It was one of the shortest on record and a disappointing one.'

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor speaking with ANI said, "It was one of the shortest speeches on record of the Budget. Not very much came out of it. As usual a lot of rhetorical language and very little concrete on implementation. She talked about foreign investment without acknowledging that that investment has come down significantly."

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"She talked about a number of things which are couched in vague language like 'confidence' and 'hope' and so on. But when it comes to hard figures, very few figures were available. This is going to be a very disappointing speech in terms of being couched entirely in generalities and without enough substance nor any willingness to address the specific problems of the economy", Tharoor added.

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said, "It was a mere administrative exercise to ensure that the government of India has the requisite funds to carry on its normal business until the new parliament is constituted and a new government is formed. And that's what they have done, except for making their obligatory self-congratulatory, self-praise phrases", Chidambaram said while speaking with ANI.

For Nirmala Sitaraman as an union finance minister, it was her sixth budget speech- a record on its own.

Meanwhile, BJP MPs are showering their praises for the interim budget. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on interim Budget 2024 said that it was an encouraging budget. "We are fully confident that we will achieve the target of becoming a developed nation by 2047", Singh said.

Speaking with ANI, BJP MP Poonam Mahajan said that, "A woman empowering the nation under the leadership of PM Modi who has always believed in that the country has to go forward with women leading the country. We are empowering - Garib, Mahila, Kisan, Yuva- for Viksit Bharat".

This is the last budget session of the current Narendra Modi government ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The national elections are expected to be held in April-May this year.

After the elections, the full Budget 2024 will be presented by the new government.

(With ANI Inputs)