Hoping to break the tradition of the incumbent government being voted out every five years, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot is all set to announce a populist budget in the last year of his five-year term. Last year, in the act of populism, Gehlot sprung up a surprise by announcing that Rajasthan will be moving back to the old pension scheme (OPS).
Since then, Gehlot's decision has triggered a nationwide debate over OPS, with Congress using it as an election issue in states such as Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. Congress ruled Chattisgarh, too, had announced that it is moving back to OPS shortly after Rajasthan. According to sources, this year, Gehlot plans to outdo himself by announcing more populist sops to consolidate his narrative of 'good governance' in Rajasthan and to convince the public to give him one more term.
Interestingly ahead of the budget slated on February 10, the big hoardings have been put up by the Rajasthan government at key places such as Sahkar circle, Ambedkar circle and Gandhi circle. The hoardings with a photo of the chief minister read ’Bachat, Rahat, Badhat’ (saving, relief and progress). Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who also holds the finance portfolio, has several times suggested that this year's budget will be a populist one focussing on the youths and fulfilling the aspirations of the people of Rajasthan.
Reacting to the hoardings put by the Gehlot government, the BJP state president Satish Poonia targeted the government by replying to the hoarding’s photo on Twitter, in which the original tagline 'Bachat, Rahat, Badhat’ was replaced with ’Apradh, Bhrashtachar, Paperleak’.
Crucial budget for Gehlot govt:
The chief minister Ashok Gehlot recently told the media, "Several schemes focussing on social security shall be introduced during the budget. the Chiranjeevi health insurance scheme was doubled from Rs 5 lakh to 10 lakh". Moreover, the CM has already announced to give 12 cylinders in a year for Rs 500 per cylinder to poor families to reduce the impact of inflation.
According to the senior Congress leaders, being the last budget of the present tenure, the government is likely to roll out many new schemes and programmes for youth and social welfare. "State is going for the assembly elections later this year, and this will be the last budget of the present Congress government. Budget will have a particular focus on youths and new job opportunities, focus on social welfare schemes to counter inflation", a senior Congress leader told Outlook.
Besides this, hoping to get benefit in the polls, the budget shall also feature Rahul Gandhi’s suggestions based on the feedback received during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in December. "Gandhi, while addressing a rally in Alwar, had hinted that the government would consider giving kitchen kits to the needy. The budget shall also make provisions for the protection of the rights of the people working in the Gig economy sector- those engaged in work for app-based services, like Zomato, Swiggy, Ola and Uber", a senior Congress leader added.
