Surprised with the Centre's move to go ahead with the presentation of Union Budget despite the demise of ex-union minister E. Ahamed, former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda on Wednesday questioned the mental state of the BJP-led NDA Government and said that no secrecy will break if the budget is postponed.
"Postponement of budget will not be a big deal. It's not as if secrecy will break. There was no need to go to the President with the budget," he said.
"What is the hurry? It just shows mentality of the government. Surprising," the Janata Dal (Secular) national president added.
Offering his condolences to the late Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav also demanded that the Centre should postpone the budget.
"I offer my condolences; budget 2017 shouldn't be presented today," Lalu told ANI.
Meanwhile, the Congress Party has dubbed the government's move to go ahead with the presentation of the Union Budget as an 'inhuman' act following the demise of Ahamed and called for postponement of the same.
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Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said a big mistake is being done if Ahamed, who was one of the senior most leaders, is not given respect.
"In our opinion including JD (U) leaders and former prime minister Deve Gowda, the Budget should be postponed. Every one said the Budget should be postponed for a day. The House can be adjourned. Not much harm will happen if it is postponed by a day," Kharge told the media.
Kharge alleged that the government already knew about Ahamed's demise, but it was trying to delay the announcement on the Union Budget.
"I have talked with many leaders. I am going to meet with Kerala MPs now. I think the government already knew that he had passed away. But they were trying to may be delay the announcement. This is an inhuman act. Behaving like this with a leader is not correct. It's not March 31. There is enough time to present the Budget. The government can postpone it," he added.
"When the dead body is here, the House can't run....this is my contention. In my view, it will not be proper to keep dead body and go ahead with the Budget because there is a lot of time. The Budget can be postponed," Kharge said.
The cloud hovering around the presentation of Union Budget got cleared as the government has arrived at a consensus after speaking to all political parties.
Sources said obituary to Ahamed will take place before the presentation of the Union Budget.
It may be noted that the budget was passed in the past as well even after sitting MP Paul Jujhar and MoS industry M.B. Rana breathed their last in 1954 and 1974 respectively.
It was earlier speculated that the budget could be postponed by a day after Ahamed passed away at the RML Hospital in the national capital in the wee hours of today after suffering from heart attack.