BJP hopeful of completing legislations on budget

New Delhi, Mar.27 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader S.S. Ahluwalia said that his party hopes to complete discussions on the budget latest by today, and added that it would come to the Rajya Sabha after the president's approval.

He said this on the sidelines of a party meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday.

According to media reports, the opposition has instructed its Lok Sabha lawmakers to be present in full strength during the budget discussion, as there would be voting on certain amendments moved by it.

In fact, the BJP has demanded certain rollbacks as well, including the increase in customs duty.

"Today, from our side Kailash Joshi and Yashwant Sinha will speak before Pranab Mukherjee and after that, the Budget will be passed. Yesterday, we had a discussion on the Budget, today it would be completed and most certainly, by tomorrow, after the President's approval, the Budget after being passed in the Lok Sabha will come to the Rajya Sabha," he said.

BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha and Kailash Joshi would speak on behalf of the party in the Lok Sabha.

On Monday, the opposition attacked the government alleging that their arrogance and deception has prevented a consensus on the economic policies.

The party also gave a farewell to four members of the Rajya Sabha-Deputy Leader of BJP in the Upper House S.S. Ahluwalia, Bal Apte, K.B.Shanappa and Anusuiya Uikey -who have completed their tenure and will not take on another term.

Meanwhile, reacting on the bribery claims by Indian Army Chief, General V.K. Singh, Ahluwalia said that the statement by Defence Minister, A.K.Antony must be made clear.

According to media reports, Antony said that he was informed of the bribery case by Gneral Singh earlier but was told not to pursue the matter.

But, after the shocking revelation by Singh himself, the federal police Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was ordered to probe the matter.

"Last night, the issue came up. Now, if in his statement, he has constituted a CBI enquiry and there is no mention of A.K. Antony's statement in the list and I think it must be mentioned and it should be made clear that a CBI enquiry has been called for as well as the terms and references of the enquiry," he said.

In an interview to The Hindu newspaper, Singh alleged that a defence equipment lobbyist offered him a bribe of 2.7 million dollars for approving the purchase of 600 sub-standard vehicles of a particular make.

He told the newspaper that the army had 7,000 of the vehicles in question, many of which had been sold over the years at exorbitant prices with no questions being asked.

Singh has already been involved in a row with the government over his retirement age.

He went to the Supreme Court seeking a ruling to establish his date of birth as 10 May 1951 - as his birth certificate and other official documents record.

The date of birth determines if he retires this year or next.

He dropped his case last month after the Supreme Court said there was error or prejudice in the setting of the date as 1950. (ANI)