Budget 2012 'tolerable': Trinamool

New Delhi: On tenterhooks after the controversy over Railway budget, Government could breathe easy today with the Trinamool Congrees dubbing as “tolerable” the Union Budget 2012-13 and making it clear that it was “not in a confrontationist mode”. “The budget is tolerable”, said Trinamool leader Sudip Bandhopadhyay. The Trinamool Congress is the second largest constituent in UPA with its 19 MPs. [caption id=“attachment_247377” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The Trinamool Congress is the second largest constituent in UPA with 19 MPs. Reuters”]  [/caption] At the same time Bandopadhyay wanted that the government should ensure the prices of fertiliser and kerosene should not be allowed to rise due to any de-control. The Trinamool Congress, he said, will coordinate with MPs from Kerala and Punjab in Parliament to seek moratorium for three years on the debt to states noting that West Bengal was paying Rs 22000 crore on loan repayment. However, Bandopadhyay stressed that his party was not in a confrontationist mode. “We are not in a confrontationist mode. We want the interest of the poor people to be protected,” he said after the budget was presented in Lok Sabha. Though feeling that the budget was “status quoist”, Minister of State for Tourism Sultan Ahmed counterbalanced his statement by saying it is also the one that gives “Na Khushi Na Gum (Neither happines nor sorrow)”. PTI