National

Chidambaram in ‘leap year club’

New Delhi: Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday joined the leap year club, presenting the country’s ninth budget on that extra day which falls once in four years.

The 62-year-old lawyer turned politician, whose brush with the annual budgetary exercise began in 1996 with a “dream budget,” is closing in on Morarji Desai by presenting his seventh budget, but will he equal his record is anybody’s guess.

Morarji Desai presented eight budgets and also accounted for two leap year budgets. C.D. Deshmukh follows Mr. Chidambaram with six full budgets to his credit, followed by five each for Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister and Yashwant Sinha.

With the UPA government’s tenure due to end on May 21, 2009, Mr. Chidambaram has another chance to present a budget next year. But given that it will be an election year, he may have to settle for an interim one.

Mr. Chidambaram presented his first regular budget on July 22 1996 when H.D. Deve Gowda was Prime Minister. The interim budget for that year was tabled by Dr. Singh when he was Prime Minister.

Morarji Desai, who was also born on February 29, had the distinction of tabling two full national budgets on leap year day in 1960 and 1968.

In the recent past, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha in 2000 and Dr. Singh, as Finance Minister in 1992, apart from N.D. Tiwari in 1988, were among those who presented full budgets on February 29.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, as Finance Minister in Indira Gandhi’s Cabinet in 1984, also presented a full national budget, as opposed to an interim one on February 29. —PTI

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