|
Manpreet shies away from full budget
WSN Network
CHANDIGARH:
Punjab
Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal will be presenting a sort of
interim budget, popularly known as Vote On Account, instead of a
regualr budget on February 27, asking lawmakers of Punjab to clear
the bare minimum necessary to keep the system going. A full budget
will come after the Lok Sabha elections, due possibly in April-May
of this year.
The move is
somewhat unprecedented and certainly not inspired by any scruples.
One reason could be that the FM was expecting better schemes for
Punjab when the full Union Budget is presented after the polls and
will then be able to reflect that in his budget, a strategy Punjab
often employs to hide its own poor record.
The Punjab
government, notwithstanding tamashas like Sangat Darshan patented by
Parkash Singh Badal, is in no position to present a populist budget
and it could have cost the Akali-BJP alliance dearly. Now it can
hide behind a ruse that much rosy things await the electrorate after
the polls. Former Finance minister Surinder Singla questioned that
when Himachal Pradesh and Haryana could present budgets, what
prevented Punjab?
18
February 2009
|
Read Also