Three major announcements made by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech on Tuesday appear to have been taken straight out of the Congress manifesto, the document which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP had alleged had imprints of the Muslim League of pre-Independence days.

Disappointed with the budget in general, the Congress, however, stood vindicated by the inclusion of the three announcements — the internship scheme, the employment-linked incentive (ELI) and the abolition of angel tax — in Sitharaman’s slew of announcements.

This comes after the Congress manifesto had been repeatedly misrepresented by the Prime Minister and the BJP through the campaign for the 18th Lok Sabha elections.

Leading the charge on this front, Modi had said at a public rally in Saharanpur in early April: "The Congress has no vision for building the nation. Yesterday, the kind of manifesto released by the Congress shows that it is not in touch with the aspirations of today’s India. It reflects the same thinking that was prevalent in the Muslim League at the time of Independence.

"The Congress manifesto completely bears the imprint of the Muslim League and the remaining part of the manifesto is dominated by the Leftists... There is no sign of the Congress in it and such a Congress cannot lead 21st century India," Modi had said.

Little wonder then that the chairman of the Congress manifesto committee, P. Chidambaram, while reacting to the budget, took a swipe at Sitharaman on X: "I am glad to know that the hon'ble FM has read the Congress manifesto LS 2024 after the election results."

In an oblique reference to the row kicked up by the BJP about the document, he added: "I am happy she has virtually adopted the employment-linked incentive (ELI) outlined on page 30 of the Congress manifesto. I am also happy that she has introduced the apprenticeship scheme along with an allowance to every apprentice spelt out on page 11 of the Congress manifesto."

Praveen Chakravarty, who was a member of the Congress manifesto committee, added: "FM @nsitharaman’s move to keep petty politics away & adopt the Congress manifesto promise to abolish angel tax is much appreciated. Lesson for industry honchos: Set aside your fears, sycophancy and work constructively with the Opposition for the larger good of the nation."

The other two announcements were tweaked in apparent anticipation of the jibes that could come the government’s way for borrowing from a document that the BJP had projected in bad light during the election campaign.

The Congress had guaranteed a new "right to apprenticeship act" to provide year-long paid apprenticeship with a private or public sector company to every diploma holder or college graduate below 25 years.

In the case of ELI, the Congress had promised tax credits to the corporates for additional hiring against regular quality jobs.