Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the Union Budget for 2023-24 has given “nirasha” (despair) instead of “asha” (hope) to people of the country. He also claimed that the budget further increases inflation and unemployment.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 in Lok Sabha on Wednesday and said it hopes to build on the foundation of the previous budget and blue print for India@100.

“The BJP is completing a decade of its budgets, but when it did not give anything to the public earlier, what will it give now?” Yadav tweeted in Hindi.

“The BJP’s budget further increases inflation and unemployment. It does not give ‘asha’ but ‘nirasha’ to farmers, labourers, youth, women, professionals and the business class. This budget is for the benefit of a few rich people,” he added.