Coalition partners stand divided

Leaders of the coalition parties stood divided in their reaction to the federal budget 2011-2012 proposal. With the PPP leaders calling the budget people-friendly, leaders of the PML-Q and the MQM – both coalition partners – adopted a cautious approach vis-à-vis the budget.
The ministers and legislators of both parties held separate emergency meetings in the Parliament House following the budget session to chalk out their media strategy. PML-Q leader and senior minister Pervaiz Elahi did not talk about the specifics of the budget. “This budget is different from the three previous budgets presented by the PPP government. Though the government has raised salaries of its employees, it has not raised taxes,” he said.
He vowed to ensure the revival of the industry to reduce unemployment, saying his ministry would focus on facilitating the launch of small- and medium-sized industry for the creation of jobs. Elahi said more utility stores would be opened in rural areas where daily-use commodities would be sold at subsidised rates. Minister for Production Ameer Muqam said the raise in employees’ salaries should have been up to 50 percent in the wake of the soaring inflation.
He criticised the government’s decision to withdraw subsidies. MQM ministers were also critical of the budget, with Farooq Sattar saying the MQM’s proposals should have been incorporated in the budget if the government wanted to make the budget people-friendly. He said Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had assured the party that its proposals would be incorporated in the budget.
“If the government means business, it will have to change the budget formation and its mechanism. We had rejected the reformed general sales tax (RGST) last year, and will ensure it is not incorporated in the budget this year as well. We also proposed that the minimum slab for income tax should be increased from Rs 350,000 to Rs 400,000,” he said. However, Haider Abbas Rizvi said no budget could be people-friendly until the true representatives of the people prepared the budget.
He said the budget had been prepared by a feudal and it could not fulfil the public’s demands. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the attitude of the opposition during the budget speech was uncivilised and calling parliamentarians “robbers” was inappropriate.