Budget: Rollback chorus peaks

new delhi: as decks were cleared for the passage of the union budget on monday, yashwant sinha was served with yet another rollback reminder by the bjp mps. a torrent of demands for exemptions, total or partial withdrawal of “unpopular� measures, restoration of subsidies and withdrawal of excise duties on items such as marbles greeted the finance minister when he turned up at a meeting with the party mps. with demands also came the homilies for striking a balance between the fiscal imperatives and political considerations of the bjp. sinha promised a sympathetic response but indicated that there were limits to what he could do at this stage. “you cannot hope to have a new budget,� the minister is learnt to have remarked as he coped with the fusillade of demands. the time-table for parliament’s nod for the budget was firmed up soon after the deputy speaker, p m sayeed, resolved the lok sabha impasse over the format of gujarat discussion. the discussion on the finance bill will start on friday and it will be put to vote on monday. the railway budget was passed today and the appropriations bill will be passed on wednesday, albeit without much discussion. with the opposition’s agitation over gujarat eating up the whole of last week, the lok sabha will get the opportunity to discuss only the demands of the agriculture ministry in some detail. the compressed time-table will see demands of crucial ministries like home and human resource development being guillotined.