Critics should be more realistic, says FM

Rejecting criticism that the Budget was not bold or reformist, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today asked the critics to be "more realistic" to political ground realities.

Rejecting criticism that the Budget was not bold or reformist, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday asked the critics to be "more realistic" to political ground realities.

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"I am a bit disappointed," he told PTI in an interview here while answering a question about reactions to the budget he presented two days ago.

Acknowledging that the natural expectation would be that "all corrective measures" should have been taken in the budget because it would be difficult to do so in 2013 ahead of elections a year later, the Minister said that the budget was not not just "merely the economic theory of what should be done or what should not not be done".

"Budget is also a political document in the sense that it requires the approval of Parliament," he emphasised adding, if budgetary proposals do not not receive approval of coalition partners it becomes difficult to implement.

Mukherjee pointed out that it was not not possible to consult allies before the budget because the proposals were confined Prime Minister and finance minister only.

Therefore, wider consultations were possible only after the presentation of the budget and "we shall have to take various stakeholders on board", he said.