As the Lok Sabha discussed the Finance Bill on Friday afternoon, the attendance was by and large below the mandatory 10 per cent. However, the House carried on as nobody demanded quorum.

The attendance was barely adequate at the outset. However, several members, including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, started getting out soon after senior BJP member Jaswant Singh finished his speech. A total of 44 people were present at 4.10 pm. Half-an-hour later the count stood at 27. They included five ministers, one of them on roster duty and the other two ministers of state for Finance, Namo Narain Meena and S S Palanimanickam, who had to be there while Mukherjee was away. Others were around as they were listed as speakers.

While Singh spoke, Mukherjee sat all ears, taking down notes. When the BJP leader observed that he had lost his hair in the Finance Ministry, Mukherjee replied: “I have already lost mine.”

Singh made a string of suggestions: rename Finance Ministry as Ministry for Economic Development, combine the Railways and Planning Commission with it and abolish Finance Bill. He suggested Mukherjee make a “wholesale departure” from the “annual orgy” of Budget making.