Budget shows no early elections on cards

With the Budget not resorting to populism, BJP and Samajwadi Party today said there was little possibility of early Lok Sabha elections.

SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose party has been supporting UPA from outside but who has on many occasions indicated that early general elections could be on cards, said "they (UPA) won't be able to hold early elections with the kind of budget they have presented."

He said that he was expecting that keeping elections in mind, the budget will be farmer-friendly but was "disappointed" to see that it is "anti-farmer, anti-poor and anti-workers" . Yadav said that the country cannot prosper unless the farmers prosper.

"I am opposing the budget and will oppose the budget. SP will oppose the budget in Parliament," he said.   

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj was also dismissive when asked whether she expects early Lok Sabha polls.  

"What elections? They will happen on time," the BJP leader said.

There has been a buzz that the government could advance elections and hold it sometime this year, months before the term of this government expires in 2014.

Swaraj had slammed the budget as "unimaginative, dull and boring".

"In nine years, the UPA government first pushed the economy in distress and then a helpless Finance Minister comes out with a budget, which has very little elbow space,"her counterpart in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley.