Lalu trashes budget, questions rationale of Railway minister

PATNA: RJD president Lalu Prasad today denounced the Union Budget as "bereft of any substance" and questioned the rationale of continuing with a Railway minister who did not present the Budget of the ministry.

He also described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "twin brother" of new American President Donald Trump who he said was seen "taking wayward decisions" since ascending to the top chair in the US.

"The Union Budget presented today is bereft of any substance for any section of the society," Prasad told reporters reacting on the budget for 2017-18 presented in Parliament by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.


"The minister in his Budget speech did not make any reference as to how many unemployed youths it gave jobs to," the RJD chief asked.

Prasad was particularly harsh for merging of Railway Budget with the General Budget.

"They have demolished the tradition of presentation of separate Rail Budget since Independence... what is the rationale of continuing with a Railway minister when he cannot present the budget of his ministry," Prasad who served as Railway minister during UPA I government, said.

The RJD chief also questioned the NDA government's wisdom of going with presentation of the Budget despite the death of former minister and MP E Ahamed this morning.