CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress president Raja Warring today ridiculed the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s ignorance about preparation of budget by claiming “People of Punjab will make the Budget of Punjab”. “Budget is the constitutional responsibility of the government, you can’t outsource or crowd source it”, he remarked.
IN a statement, the PCC president observed that this revealed the gross ignorance and ideological bankruptcy of this government about the process and procedure of preparing the budget.
“People of Punjab have vested you with power and authority to run the government and budget is one of your important responsibilities”, Warring told Mann, adding, “please stop playing political stunts with such unconstitutional gimmicks and these serve no purpose”.
“I don’t know what idea this government or the Chief Minister has about budget preparation, but let somebody tell them that it does not mean buying groceries from the neighbourhood shop”, Warring said in a scathing attack on the Chief Minister for trying to trivialize the most important function of the government for populist purpose.
He pointed out, preparation and presentation of the budget is a Constitutional requirement under Article 202 of the Indian Constitution. “Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s Constitution has clearly spelt out the process and procedure of budget preparation and Baba Saheb whom you often quote for your convenience never told us to go the people to make the budget”, the PCC president pointed out, while remarking, “this is just financial quackery”.
“Let the experts do the job what they are supposed to do”, Warring asked the Chief Minister, telling him, “people’s job finishes the moment they elect a government which is authorized to make the budget taking guidance from the experts”. If the people have to make the budget, what is the government there for? he asked.
Warring said, this is just another stunt of the AAP government that actually signified nothing. “Even Kejriwal had resorted to a similar stunt in Delhi in 2015 and what was rejected there long back is being tried in Punjab now and claimed to be a great step”, he disclosed.