New Delhi, Feb 9 (IANS): Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy on Thursday criticised the Union Budget saying that it had no roadmap for tackling unemployment, inflation and inequality, while terming it as anti-poor and anti-people.

Participating in the discussion on the Union Budget for 2023-24 in the Lok Sabha, Roy first raised objections that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was not present in the House when the Budget was being discussed.

To this, minister of state for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal told Speaker Om Birla that junior finance minister Bhagwat Karad was present as Sitharaman and all cabinet ministers had to be present in the Rajya Sabha for the prime minister's reply there on the motion for vote of thanks on President's address.

Amid constant interruptions by the BJP MPs from West Bengal Locket Chatterjee and Saumitra Khan, Roy termed the Budget as "anti-poor and anti-people".

He said that while allocation for the defence and education budget was minimal, subsidies had been cut drastically.

As Chatterjee and Khan kept levelling allegations against the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government, and shouted slogans "Corruption in Bengal", the TMC MP said that there was no mention of asset monetisation targets in the budget and also no new target was mentioned for disinvestment.

Roy further said that despite several rail projects lying incomplete in West Bengal, the railway minister (Ashwini Vaishnaw) was busy inaugurating "truncated networks".

He urged the government to complete these truncated rail networks and also sought to know whether farmers' income has been doubled, as promised by the government.