No planned walkout this

Before Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar started his reply to the debate on food prices, the opposition had already planned a walkout. But the opposition's collective walkout during the Budget was not planned. At least this is what the Left claims. "We were totally surprised when the finance minister announced the removal of excise relief on petrol and diesel. Just 24 hours ago, there was a furious debate over prices, and today the government is further fuelling the price rise. We promptly decided something should be done and walked out," said CPI(M)'s leader in the Lok Sabha, Basudeb Acharia.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Sushma Swaraj quickly consulted her senior, LK Advani, and the party joined the protest. While all others from the opposition benches walked out, only five people were left - former prime minister and JD(S) leader HD Devegowda and his son Kumarswamy, and independent MPs Jaswant Singh, Inder Singh Namdhari and Digvijay Singh.