This is the first time that Mukherjee, a former finance minister himself, has been associated with budget discussions in such a big way.
NEW DELHI: In the clearest indication so far that politics, more than economics, will shape this year’s budget proposals, the government’s chief political manager and interlocutor with the Left, Pranab Mukherjee, has been drafted into the budget-making exercise.
This is the first time that Mukherjee, a former finance minister himself, has been associated with budget discussions in such a big way during the life of this government.
The decision to involve Mukherjee is believed to have been taken during the consultations prime minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi usually have before the weekly core committee meeting. Significantly, ever since the government was hit by the nuclear crisis, Mukherjee has become a part of these consultations, making the apex decision-making body into a troika.
He has already had at least one meeting each with Manmohan Singh and finance minister P Chidambaram, and at least two meetings with both of them together.
Mukherjee’s involvement is a signal that the Congress, on the defensive after electoral losses in Gujarat and
Himachal Pradesh, wants to have the Left on board to present a united face in Parliament.
The budget session begins on February 25 and is critical as the government can fall on a finance bill.
Political circles believe that this year’s budget could be the UPA government’s last one. Even if general elections are held as scheduled, the poll process will begin at around budget time next year.
The government is likely to go in for a vote-on-account at that time, like the previous Vajpayee government did. Budget 2008, therefore, becomes a critical instrument to reach out to voters.
While the nuts and bolts of fiscal policies have been left to Chidambaram, Mukherjee’s role has been to craft the larger political message and sound out the Left informally on the overall thrust. The Left has had one formal meeting with the prime minister on the budget at which it presented its usual wish-list.
The budget exercise is in its last stages. Mukherjee is slated to fly to Brazil and South Africa this weekend, which means that the politics of the budget is a done deal.
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