FM Nirmala Sitharaman to reply to Budget debate in Parliament

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will on Wednesday reply to the debate on the Union Budget which she presented in Parliament on July 5.

Opposition leaders have criticised the Budget which aims to make India a USD 5 trillion economy in the next five years.

Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have called the Budget disappointing.

"There is nothing new, it is a repetition of old promises. They are talking about new India but the Budget is the same old wine in a new bottle. There is no plan for employment generation, no new initiatives," Chowdhury had said.

Tharoor had express unhappiness over the government's decision to hike fuel prices.

"We are already paying the highest petrol rates in the world and they now want us to pay Rs 2 more for every litre. This will affect the 'aam aadmi' (common man) as prices of all items of consumption will become expensive with the rise in petrol price," Tharoor had said.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala had described the Budget as "anti-people, anti-youth, anti-poor and farmers".

"(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji's new government is against people, youth, poor and farmers. The Finance Minister not even once mentioned about the plight of farmers. She did not mention as to how the income of farmers will be doubled or how employment will be generated?" Surjewala had said.