Union Budget disappoints: Kerala CM

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 28 (UNI) Terming the Union budget 'disappointing for Kerala,' Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan today said there were no concrete proposals to tackle price hike and address the problems in the agriculture and traditional industries.

''It seems the UPA Government fails to learn lessons from its electoral debacle in Panjab and Uttarkhand,'' he told newspersons here.

Mr Achuthanandan said the economic policies being followed by the Centre was not at all helpful to the poor in the country. ''If they fail to correct the mistakes, the Congress will have to face serious setbacks in the coming elections. The Left parties are putting the maximum pressure on the Centre against such anti-people policies,'' he said.

While criticising the Centre for not reducing the interest rate for agriculture loans, the Chief Minister said the Centre had also failed to introduce a commission at the national level on the lines of the one introduced by Kerala to address the problems of agriculture loan repayment.

Later, Finance Minister Thomas Issac said the fiscal management of the UPA Government was a ''political suicide.'' The Union Finance Minister was more interested to bring down the revenue deficit than addressing the real problems being faced by the people.

Mr Issac said the crisis in the agriculture sector, lapses in the procurement policy and the entry of speculators were the reasons for the steep hike in the prices of essential commodities. Though the decision to cut the excise duty of petroleum products was a welcome step, it was not sufficient to check the price hike, he added.

The minister also criticised the decision to curtail fund allocation for the state for the Centrally sponsored schemes like Sava Siksha Abhiyan(SSA).

UNI