The UPA government has sent a clear signal through Budget 2013-14 that it is not looking at early Lok Sabha elections, and its priority appears to be consolidation, rather than extravaganza.
Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose party gives outside support to the UPA but who has said many times recently that early elections are possible, said on Thursday: “They (UPA) won’t be able to hold early elections with the kind of Budget they have presented”.
Mr Yadav said with polls looming he had expected the Budget to be “farmer-friendly”, and was “disappointed” to see it was “anti-farmer, anti-poor and anti-worker”. He added: “I am opposing the Budget. The SP will oppose (it) in Parliament.”
Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj was dismissive when asked if she expected early polls. “What election? They will happen on time,” she said.
In the run-up to the Budget there was a buzz that the government could advance polls and hold it sometime this year, months before its term expires in mid-2014.
With the Budget proposals out, observers feel that the government is in consolidation mode, and there is an attempt to create elbow room so that sometime in the third quarter of the financial year UPA managers could consider some “big bang” proposal to woo people. Some also feel the delay over the Food Security Bill is “deli-berate” so that it is unveil-ed in the Monsoon Session.