Chidambaram's budget misleading: Yashwant Sinha

New Delhi, Mar 1: Terming Finance Minister P Chidambaram's action of not provisioning funds even for his major announcements like farm loan waiver and implementing the Pay Commission report as a 'fraud', the BJP today accused him of palming off his problems on the future governments.

Terming the Budget as a 'holy document', former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha alleged that there was 'no transparency whatsover'. Mr Sinha, who had presented several budgets in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, said Mr Chidambaram had presented a totally misleading budget without even showing how this mega loan waiver worth Rs 60,000 crore or the Pay Commission report for the Central Government employees that would require huge amounts running upto thousand odd crore would be implemented.

''Mr Chidambaram may be a 'wise man' but lack of transparency that too in the Budget document can be nothing but 'playing fraud' with the people's money(farzi),'' Mr Sinha said, addressing a Company Secretaries Cell meeting.

This government may be doling out a few individual tax exemptions and concessions worth few thousands here and there but in the long term it is going to harm the economy and the country.

He said Mr Chidambaram had presented a ''totally political'' budget and the timings for implementation indicate that there can be no scope for presenting the 'Supplementary estimates' to Parliament.

He only wants to create problems for the future govenrments and didn't even care to hide his intentions. "Khula khel Bajrangi", he remarked.

Mr Sinha said all the mega infrastructure plans like building world class highways under Golden Quadrilateral and North-South and East West Corridor implemented firmly and scrupulously during the NDA government had come to a halt and the government's own figures hold the mirror to the lacklusture performance of the Surface Transport Ministry.

He said Mr Chidambaram had 'communalised' the Budget presentation when he exclusively earmarked development of 90 'Muslim dominated' constituencies of the country identified by Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee.

''Till now people were not aware of these Muslim dominated districts but now the Finance Minister has identified them and have, thereby, sown the seeds (of dissention)," he added.

He said the Finance Minister even wants to recruit people from minority community on religious grounds for the Central Para-Military Forces which is not allowed by the Constitution. The BJP totally oppose this and would work for driving out the UPA Government from office in the coming elections which are not very far off, he added.

UNI