By IANS,
New Delhi : External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee did not present a populist budget as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had done a “tremendous job” and does not need to play to the gallery, the ruling Congress maintained Monday.
Mukherjee observed “constitutional propriety” while presenting the interim budget, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.
“Our government has done tremendously well and we didn’t need a populist budget. We did not play to the gallery and followed the constitution to a T as required in an interim budget.”
On the issue of tackling economic recession, Tewari said: “The priority is to protect people who have been affected by the downturn and for this the government has already done a lot.”
Another Congress spokesperson and Minister of State for Home Affairs Shakeel Ahmed told IANS that the budget was a “continuation of the UPA’s policies”.
He said the budget had proposed an increase in allocation of funds to all the sectors, despite it being interim.