Ahead of the budget, Congress Spokesperson Rajeev Gowda has laid stress on the need for social security net, necessitated by the reverse migration that happened in the wake of the pandemic, and has increased the dependence of the populace on the schemes like MNREGA. Gowda has also called for enhancing basic healthcare systems. Coming down heavily on the national infrastructure pipeline, Gowda prefers calling it a national infrastructure pipe dream, as there is no visible implementation on the ground, and no visible investment in that direction. The Congress leader has also called for measures to put money in the people's pockets.