FM Nirmala Sitharaman holds pre-budget meet with BJP leaders

NEW DELHI: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman held pre-Budget consultation with party functionaries at BJP headquarters in Delhi on Thursday. In four rounds of discussion, she met BJP office-bearers, morcha prabharis, intellectuals and party spokespersons.

After the meeting, BJP leaders expressed the confidence that a peoplecentric budget would be presented this year. Apart from Sitharaman, BJP’s working president JP Nadda and general secretaries BL Santhosh, Bhupender Yadav and Arun Singh were also present in the meetings.

“The finance minister met various sections of the party for consultation. We are confident that a pro-people Budget will be presented,” Arun Singh told ET.

The BJP has been holding a series of meetings with various stakeholders, including business leaders, farmer bodies and trade unions, as part of its per-Budget dialogue. These meetings are being coordinated by party spokesman on economic issues, Gopal Krishna Agarwal.

Seven out of the 11 such planned meetings have already taken place while the remaining four meetings will be concluded by January 14.

During Thursday’s meetings, several BJP leaders made suggestions for the upcoming budget. “Since there is always talk of loan waiver to farmers, I suggested that loan dues of National Scheduled Caste Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) also be considered for relief,” said Vinod Sonkar, president of BJP’s SC Morcha. BJP’s minority morcha president Abdul Rashid Ansari said he demanded that along with the modernisation being undertaken in registered madrasas, like other schools, midday meal scheme should also be introduced in madrasas. He suggested that skill development programme also be conducted in registered madrasas. “The finance minister listened to us very carefully and it was a good initiative by her to talk to all party morchas,” he said.