New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday dubbed the Union Budget a “kursi bachao budget” and claimed it makes “hollow promises” to BJP allies at the cost of other states.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget for 2024-25, her seventh straight presentation, surpassing the record of former prime minister Morarji Desai. This is the first budget in Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s third term in office.

In a post on X, Gandhi said, ” ‘Kursi Bachao’ Budget. Appease Allies: Hollow promises to them at the cost of other states. Appease Cronies: Benefits to AA with no relief for the common Indian. Copy and Paste: Congress manifesto and previous budgets.”

The Congress also slammed the Union Budget as being “more focused on posturing than action” and claimed that the “copy-paste government” has borrowed heavily from the party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls.

The opposition party claimed in its post that the government had “tacitly” admitted that “mass unemployment is a national crisis”, and said the budget has “political compulsions written all over it”.