With the Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi party and the Bhartiya Janata Party mounting an offensive against the UPA government on the union budget, the Congress in Uttar Pradesh is now apprehensive that the angst of the salaried and middle-class may prove to be its undoing in the next Assembly elections in the state.
The Union Budget has not been well received by the salaried and middle-class that was, apparently, expecting a much bigger relief in income-tax to counter the growing inflation.
The Bahujan Samaj Party, SP and the BJP have been quick to realise the impact of the Budget on this section of society and are now preparing to fuel the anti-UPA sentiments.
“Salaried classes are refusing to recognise the long-term benefits of the Budget and are harping on the lack of adequate tax relief in it. Working women, too, are upset because they have not got any additional tax benefits this time. Rising prices are fuelling the anti-Congress mood in the state and the various scams are further tarnishing the image of the party. All this could prove detrimental to the Congress interests in the next Assembly elections,” admitted a veteran party leader and also a former UPCC president.
A UPCC vice-president, on the other hand, said that the state leaders should immediately request the party high command to roll back some of the budgetary proposals and increase the IT exemption limit in view of the UP Assembly elections which could be held later this year, ahead of the schedule.
“The middle class is usually a floating vote that does not necessarily go on caste lines. We will lose this vote bank if no relieve is given to the middle-class which has already been burdened with service tax in the medical sector,” he said.
The Samajwadi Party, BJP and the BSP, meanwhile, is elated over the impact the Budget could have on congress prospects.
“The Congress lost majority Muslim support when its leaders welcomed the Ayodhya verdict. They earned the ire of educated classes when scams began tumbling out of their closet and now with the Budget, they will lose the middle-class too. All this will work to our benefit in the next elections and we will make sure that we sustain the opposition to the Budget,” said a senior SP leader.
The BJP is planning a larger campaign at the national level on this issue.
The BSP, on the other hand, is preparing to launch a fresh attack on the Congress-led government in the post-Budget scenario.
“The Budget only strengthens our stand that the Congress is anti-poor and anti-dalit and the budgetary proposals prove it. Our campaign now gets sharper with this proof in hand,” said a senior BSP minister.