First Vice President Amrullah Saleh spoke out against the House of Representatives’ decision for rejecting the Dastarkhan Milli (National Dining Table) programme of the government.

On Twitter, Saleh said that the Parliament believes “albeit wrongly” that the budget by the World Bank for the food aid programme would be redirected to infrastructure projects.
“A hungry dreams [of] food first and shelter second,” he wrote.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, he again addressed the House of Representatives.
“No. This budget is an integral part of trying to reduce hunger – not poverty,” he emphasized.
Giving an example, he said that it is equivalent to trying to “convince a family that is hungry, not to eat bread and to build a house” instead.
The “hungry are dreaming of bread, not home,” Saleh wrote.
He added that the House of Representatives did not ask for any amendments to the national food aid plan and rather after years of lack of focus on fundamental issues, “angrily and hastily dismissed the poor.”
“I hope you think again about yourself and your place in society,” added the first vice president.
“Taking the bread from the poor is neither art nor courage.”
Presidential spokesperson Sediq Sediqqi also spoke against the decision and asked the House of Representative to reconsider.
He said that the people needed the government’s support, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak and the programme was a major initiative.
He had asked the Parliamentarians to collect more information and discuss the programme again.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives had rejected the $244 million Dastarkhan Milli programme and called it inefficient and contrary to Article 91 of the Constitution which gives the House the rights to formulate development programmes and make budget allocations.