Former Finance Ministers and Congress leaders, Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee, termed the Budget as an "interim" one and felt it would lead to stagflation.

They added that supplementary proposals were on the cards, as according to them the adverse impact of economic sanctions had not been taken into account.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar said the Government had overlooked economic sanctions and added that it would definitely come out with new proposals within two or three months.

Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy said there was no option for the Vajpayee Government but to present a supplementary Budget. "This Budget must be defeated," he said.

Former Prime Minister and Samajwadi Janata Party leader Chandra Shekhar said it was an "intelligentpresentation of a Budget in a pathetic situation....I can only say this has created more confusion."

CPM Leader Somnath Chatterjee, criticising the Budget, said it presented"an unrealistic picture" of the economy "with make-believe assessment".

CPI leader and former Home Minister Indrajit Gupta termed the Budget as "a businessman's budget" which, he said, would hit the masses.

Tamil Maanila Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said "there is no big new idea in today's Budget. It is inflationary in nature," and added that it was silent on the country's economy in the post-Pokhran scenario.

Samajwadi Party president and former Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav viewed the Budget as "anti-people and anti-farmer" and expressed concern over the cut in defence allocation.

United Front spokesman S Jaipal Reddy said the Budget was "utterly unrealistic as it has totally ignored" the economic sanctions imposed on India by several countries following nuclear tests and sluggish exportgrowth.

DMK leader and former Industry Minister Murasoli Maran said there was no mention of wide-ranging economic sanctions in the Budget.