Opposition terms budget as poll lollipop

PTI

New Delhi: The opposition parties today dubbed the Interim Budget as a poll lollipop and termed UPA's calculations on fiscal deficit as "Satyam's balancesheet".

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

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

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 today 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.