Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) [India], February 2 (ANI): Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Chigurupati Babu Rao on Thursday called the union Budget 'anti-people' saying it betrayed the state of Andhra Pradesh once again.

"Union budget totally betrayed Andhra Pradesh. There are no funds for AP. The finance minister didn't mention the name of AP itself. what about backward classes," Chigurupati Babu Rao said.

The CPI (M) leader said no funds were earmarked for the railway, metro and Polavaram projects.

"It is an anti-people Budget. Funds were decreased on the remaining commodities as well. Jagan Mohan Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu are not responding on this,' Babu added.

Babu further added they are going to appeal to the regional parties to conduct agitations against this budget.

Meanwhile, Sitharaman yesterday announced an increase in the income tax rebate limit from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh stating that the new tax regime will now be the default tax regime.

The Finance Minister also proposed to change the tax structure in this regime by reducing the number of tax slabs to 5 and increasing the tax exemption limit to Rs 3 lakh.

The government proposed to increase capital expenditure outlay by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore in 2023-24, which would be 3.3 per cent of the GDP, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday.

Further, the government proposed to increase the agricultural credit target to Rs 20 lakh crore with a focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries, Sitharaman said. The agriculture sector of the country has been growing at an average annual growth rate of 4.6 per cent in the last six years.

Presenting the Union Budget 2023, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday pegged the fiscal deficit target for 2023-24 at 5.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The Finance Minister further said that the government intends to bring the fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent of GDP by the financial year 2025-26. (ANI)