23 March,2010 07:55 AM IST | | Surender Sharma
More evidence that politicians love being in the limelight, at whatever cost necessary
A Budget exposition is the time for maximising coverage. This is not just a conception adhered to by the media, but seemingly by some Delhi MLAs as well.
u00a0On Budget day at the Delhi Vidhansabha, around six members including Devendra Yadav and Jaswant Singh from the Congress and Bharat Singh (independent) chose to leave their designated seats and parked themselves behind Finance Minister, AK Walia. The reasonu00a0-- thirty odd cameras were all focused on the FM's seat.
However, when the Budget speech was about to start, BJP MLA Sahib Singh pointed out this fact. Immediately, all the guilty MLAs dashed back to their designated benches, giving the rest of the members a few moments of entertainment.
Once he began, Walia didn't have an easy time. His speech was interrupted several times by opposition members.
The Delhi Finance Minister stopped his address twice and sat down. But the opposition remained unfazed.
Speaker, Yoganand Shastri tried to control the situation but the pandemonium continued. Finally, Shastri made this stinging remark, pointed at BJP's Sahib Singh Chauhan, "Kya aap ki seat pe bichchoo hai (Is there a scorpion on your seat which is not letting you sit)?" This had the desired effect and the BJP MLAs remained silent, at least for a while.u00a0
Rs 26,000 cr Total Budget
Rs 11,200 cr For planned expenditure
Rs 140 cru00a0Spending on Central schemes
Rs 14,660 cr For non-planned expenditure
