Opposition dubs budget as poll 'lollipop'

The opposition parties on Monday dubbed the interim budget as election budget, offering "poll lollipops" and alleged that the exercise has failed to address serious issues the people face.

The opposition parties on Monday dubbed the interim budget as election budget, offering "poll lollipops" and alleged that the exercise has failed to address serious issues the people face.

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It also went to the extent of terming the government's calculations on fiscal deficit as "Satyam's balance sheet."

Describing the budget a "poll lollipop" senior CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta accused Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee of "making his first election speech" in parliament.

"Our Finance Minister has in fact made the first election speech in Parliament without announcing the names of the candidates and spelling out the dates. After seeing Lalu Prasad's lollipop, we have on Monday seen Pranabji's lollipop. The budget is simply a poll lollipop," Dasgupta said.

It's an election budget without any realistic fundamentals of economy," Dasgupta said accusing the government of not recognising basic human problems of the country.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley said, "Government calculations on fiscal deficit is wide off the mark.. It is like Satyam's balance sheet."

Accusing the government of "living in denial mood" and "indulging in self congratulation", the BJP leader said it is a poll budget.