Antony govt for interim Budget, TN may follow

The United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Kerala yesterday gave up its earlier plan to pass the full Budget before March 31 in view of the Centre's move to advance the Lok Sabha elections.

This decision comes amid reports that other state governments including Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are also planning similar moves, citing the argument that the Lok Sabha elections will upset the schedule of the Assemblies that had planned their Budgets around the time general elections are to be held.

Kerala Chief Minister AK Antony announced that a vote-on-account was likely after a Cabinet meeting in Thiruvananthapuram today.

As scheduled, Finance Minister K Sankaranarayanan will present his Budget speech for 2004-05 in the Assembly on 23 January.

This will be followed by a vote-on-account for the government expenses for the first quarter (April-June) of the financial year.

The session, which starts tomorrow with the governor's policy address to the House, is scheduled to last till April 7. But it will be cut short in view of the Lok Sabha elections.

Departing from the normal practice, the government had earlier planned to get the entire Budget passed before March 31. This will now not be possible.

The Maharashtra government's compulsions are different. It may recommend an early Assembly election ahead of September 2004, and might have to pass a vote-on-account for that reason.