NDA allies welcome covid stimulus package

New Delhi: BJP's partners in the ruling National Democratic Alliance have welcomed the package announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the past five days. JDU, BJP’s partner in Bihar, said the Rs 20 lakh crore financial package will help improve the investment climate in the country and create more jobs. “Our party welcomes this all-inclusive package,” Rajiv Ranjan, spokesman of JDU, told ET. “It’s a comprehensive package which takes care of everyone from street vendors, farmers, small business units to big industrial houses.

It also provides a policy road map for further growth and investment.” Ranjan said allowing states to use the State Disaster Relief Fund and increasing the borrowing limit was something Bihar government had demanded too. “I think this package would address the concerns regarding the economy,” he said.

Another ally, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), took the opposition on for criticising the government over the financial package. “The opposition has been saying that it is not monetary and only fiscal. However, it’s a combined package of fiscal and monetary,” Naresh Gujral, the SAD’s Rajya Sabha member, told ET. “Given all the constraints I think the government is doing the best thing possible. Criticising the government is very easy. Has the opposition given any concrete suggestions?” Gujral, however, raised concern over the condition of migrant workers.


“It is agonising to see the plight of the poor migrants. Much more needs to be done both by the central and state governments.” LJP, another BJP ally in Bihar, has been quite vocal in its praise of the financial package right from May 12, when the PM announced it in his address to the nation. “I congratulate Prime Minister Modi for announcing the package. This central government initiative will help India become self-sufficient,” LJP president Chirag Paswan had tweeted immediately after the PM’s address. He especially praised the decision to distribute free ration to 80 million migrant workers to the tune of Rs 3,500 crore. Importantly, his father Ram Vilas Paswan is the Union food and consumer affairs minister and distribution of food grains comes under his ministry.