The first Budget of the SAD-BJP government after their thumping victory in the Assembly polls sailed through on Wednesday,defying precedent. The Opposition Congress changed its earlier strategy of staging walkout during the Budget debate. Instead,it cornered the government on breach of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act,evading taxes till Dasuya bypoll and forcing Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa to reveal the actual amount factored in the Budget as additional resource mobilisation to rein in revenue and fiscal deficits. The Opposition members also sat through passing of the Budget and many Congress members made proposals and raised issues during the discussion and voting on demands for grants. Leader of opposition Sunil Jakhar,who had on Tuesday,forced the government on the backfoot terming the Budget as illegal,once again asked Dhindsa to explain how the Rs 3,100 crore will be generated through additional resource mobilisation measures (ARMs). The FM has used a fancy term of ARMs. Will he also explain what will it comprise and will the loss of Rs 500 crore for breaching the FRBM Act also not be recovered as taxes from the common man? Jakhar asked. Dhindsa said the 13th Finance Commission had tied up a few state-specific grants and small saving interest rate to the fiscal roadmap. Since the revenue and fiscal deficit overshot the prescribed targets last year,it will cost us nearly Rs 250 crore on account of high interest rate on small savings and remaining Rs 250 crore on grants linked to different departments, he said. Before Dhindsa spoke about the Rs 3,100 crore-ARMs,Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal proposed that the Budget and Punjab Appropriation Bill be tabled in the House. It was passed amid aays from treasury benches and nays from the Opposition. Dhindsa received a special thumping on the desk from Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his ruling benches for his maiden Budget presentation. Later,Dhindsa said a meeting on resource mobilisation measures will be held after the Dasuya bypoll to generate consensus between the two allies. At The assemblyWoman power As soon as the zero hour began,Muktsar MLA Karan Brar requested Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal to table a CD on excesses committed in Muktsar during the assembly polls. Atwal denied the request forcing Leader of Opposition Sunil Jakhar to demand a debate on cases of vendetta and high-handedness. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal soon intervened and asked Brar to give the CD to him. On Jakhars demand for debate,Badal said he had prepared a reply on the so-called vendetta cases on Tuesday,but the Congress got to know and walked out. I will make a statement on the issue on Thursday,please dont go away, he told Jakhar. Incidentally,Karan Brar is also among the most vocal first timers and along with other first-time women members,including Charanjit Bajwa and Farzana Nissara Khatoon,made impressive debut speeches during the budget debate. Congress MLA from Nawanshahr,Guriqbal Kaur,highlighted the death of schoolchildren in road accidents in Nawanshahr demanding traffic lights and signals to curb the problem. Many first-time women members are also the ones with highest attendance in the House. Unsporting remarks Taking cue from MLAs who took pot shots at rivals while discussing demand for grants,Olympian and first-time MLA Pargat Singh said the budget for education should also include allocation for sports. He then hit out at Batala MLA Ashwani Sekhri saying the latter had brought down the shop of a poor man during the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation polls. Infuriated Sekhri asked Speaker Charanjit Atwal for time prompting Atwal to ask members to refrain from taking names. I will have to give Aswani Sekhri time to speak,because you took his name, Atwal said. Sekhri then got up and said,Atta,alcohol and clothes were being distributed at a shop during the polls and I being the Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president brought it to the notice of the poll authorities. Pargat should not mislead the House, Sekhri said. Displine matters Speaker Charanjit Atwal reprimanded Congress MLA Charanjit Channi to go to his seat before raising a point of order. You can only speak from your seat. If you want to speak from someone elses seat,then you will have to seek my permission, he told Channi,who was sitting with two other MLAs. Anonymous gamer Health and Family Welfare Minister Madan Mohan Mittal took the house by surprise when he requested the Speaker to ask an opposition member not to play games on an electronic device during the session. As the Opposition members asked Mittal to reveal the name or take back his comment,an amused Mittal quoted lines of a famous Bollywood song,Samajne wale samajh gaye hai (those who had to understand have understood). Halqa in-charge system Congress MLA Brahm Mohindra,while demanding more development funds for his Patiala rural constituency,said an areas development was the collective responsibility of MLAs and MPs,but the Akali Dal was bestowing all powers and funds on halqa in-charges. Cong newcomers make the numbers Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh,who just made a symbolic appearance during the third day of the budget session,was again missing from the session,along with his confidant Dhuri MLA Arvind Khanna. Former Leader of Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal,who was present through the question hour,was not spotted on her chair after it was over. As Congress old-timers registered their presence off and on,it was newcomers that made the numbers during the budget debate.
