Budget a fraud on common man: Malhotra

New Delhi, Mar 12 (UNI) Dismissing the General Budget as ''disappointing and shameful'', BJP Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha V K Malhotra today said it was a fraud on the common man and a ''breach of trust'' with the farmers and employees.

''The common man is missing from the Budget,'' he said, initiating discussion on the General Budget 2007-08 vote on account.

Mr Malhotra said the kind of reaction Budget proposals for 2007-08 evoked from the media were proof enough of how ''well'' they have been received by the people.

Quoting Finance Minister P Chidambaram's Budget speech in which he had announced reduction of customs duty on dog food, Mr Malhotra said, ''It was the only good news in the entire budget.'' He said it reminded him of the French queen, who facing a demonstration by the people demanding bread, had asked why the people did not eat cake.

Mr Malhotra said the Budget failed to address the issues of the farmers, who were forced to commit suicide, employees, traders and other sections of the people. ''There were no steps to contain price rise and the rates of commodities continued to rise by 50 to 300 per cent.'' Scoffing at Mr Chidambaram's remark that a simultaneous rise in the rate of inflation with that of growth was natural, the senior BJP leader said in China the growth rate had increased by 20 to 30 per cent but inflation had increased only by 2 to 3 per cent.

The BJP leader held the ''faulty policies'' pursued by the UPA government for runaway inflation and said forward trading, ''satta bazar'' and FDI in retail had contributed to price rise.

Flaying UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi for frequently writing letters to the Prime Minister on various issues including price rise and the SEZs, he said ''She was simply passing the buck.'' Mr Malhotra said while it was claimed that 130 new districts have been brought under the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, only 700 crores had been provided additionally for the flagship programme which was ''peanuts''.

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