Budget 2025: ‘President could hardly speak, poor thing,’ says Sonia Gandhi on Droupadi Murmu’s speech

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said President Droupadi Murmu was “getting tired by the end” of her speech in Parliament on the first day of the Budget Session 2025. “She [Murmu] could hardly speak, poor thing,” Sonia Gandhi said on Friday.

Droupadi Murmu addressed the joint session of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Friday, kicking off the 2025 Budget session of Parliament.

Besides, Sonia Gandhi, Independent MP and Congress supporter Pappu Yadav also criticized Murmu over her speech. Yadav made an objectionable statement by calling her a "stamp" and stating that she just read a "love letter".

"The President is like a stamp. She just has to read a love letter..." Pappu Yadav was quoted by news agency ANI as saying. Yadav further attacked the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and accused it of lying to the people who had voted for them.

"Let's start with the economy, demonetisation, black money, ₹15 lakh, 2 crore jobs, Ayushmann, Jan Dhan Yojana, MSPs, Manipur, Agniveer, reservation, caste census... They [BJP] always lie and try to divert people. Mahakumbh is happening in 12 years but they said it is happening after 144 years. they don't talk about common men, economy..." he told ANI.

President Droupadi Murmu, in her address on Friday, stated that with the efforts of the government, India is going to become the third biggest economy in the world. The President said that the government's mantra is "Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas".

Economic Survey

Following the President's address, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on Saturday.

The Economic Survey document, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser, gives insights into the state of the economy and various indicators of 2024-25 (April-March) and some outlook for the next fiscal.

The Economic Survey document, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser, gives insights into the state of the economy and various indicators of 2024-25 (April-March) and some outlook for the next fiscal.

The document may also give some idea about the tone and texture of the actual budget for 2025-26, to be presented on Saturday.

The budget will be presented on February 1. On budget day, the Finance Minister will present the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha at 11 am. The budget speech will outline the government's fiscal policies, revenue and expenditure proposals, taxation reforms, and other significant announcements.

Notably, the budget session of parliament will begin on January 31 and, according to schedule, will end on April 4.

(With inputs from ANI)