Middle class 'cheated', farmers deprived: Kejriwal on Budget

New Delhi, Feb 29: The Union Budget does not address the concerns of the farmers and the middle class, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said, accusing the Narendra Modi government of "cheating" them while questioning the black money amnesty scheme.

Kejriwal, who is campaigning for the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls, claimed that loans of industrialists have been "waived" in the Budget and wondered why a similar relief has "not been" extended to the farmers. "The budget has nothing for farmers in distress who are are committing suicides.

Farmers are reeling under huge debt. Loans of industrialists have been waived but not that of farmers. Nothing for middle class in this budget. Modi govt cheated middle class which votes for them," he said in a series of tweets.

Kejriwal also sharply reacted to the Centre's four-month compliance window for domestic black money holders for them to come clean by paying tax and penalty of 45 per cent, saying BJP had proposed "enforcement" measures instead.

"BJP vowed to bring back black money through enforcement, not through amnesty schemes. This is what Chidambaram also did. What is the difference? "There's nothing for the treatment of farmers.

Only opening cheap medicine stores will not help. There should be dispensaries in every village where treatment will be free," he tweeted.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the Budget is aimed at improving rural infrastructure and increasing rural income as the biggest challenge to the economy is agrarian distress.

He announced an allocation of nearly Rs 36,000 crore for the farm sector while raising the agri-credit target to Rs 9 lakh crore for the next fiscal.

PTI