Budget 2020: ‘Step-motherly treatment for Delhi’: Arvind Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday turned theUnion Budget into an election issue and questioned why Delhites should vote forthe BJP after being treated in a step-motherly way.

"Delhi had high expectations from Budget, but the step-motherly treatment meted out to it again. Delhi does not figure in BJP's priorities. Why should people vote for it," he tweeted.

दिल्ली को बजट से बहुत उम्मीदें थी। लेकिन एक बार फिर दिल्ली वालों के साथ सौतेला व्यवहार हुआ। दिल्ली भाजपा के प्राथमिकताओ में आता ही नहीं, तो दिल्ली वाले भाजपा को वोट क्यों दे? सवाल ये भी है की चुनाव से पहले ही जब भाजपा दिल्ली को निराश कर रही है तो चुनाव के बाद अपने वादे निभाएगी?

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 1, 2020

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced cuts in personal income tax, extended tax benefits for affordable housing and gave relief to companies on payment of dividends in the Union Budget for 2020-21 in her second Budget amid the worst economic slowdown in 11 years.

Ahead of Sitharaman presenting her second Budget, Kejriwalhad tweeted that Delhites had hoped that the BJP-led central government wouldprotect the interests of residents of the national capital. He also said thatthe Budget would reveal how much the BJP cares for the city.

Delhi will vote in February in the assembly elections. Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been campaigning on the government's record of good governance that had laid thrust on education, public health, public facilities, and infrastructure.

The AAP which swept the assembly election in 2015 winning 67 of the 70 seats is hoping to retain power even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues to run a high-pitched campaign on nationalism where the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has become a favorite target of their attack.