Under pressure from BJP, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has asked finance minister Yashwant Sinha to partially roll back some of the harsh and anti-middle class tax proposals in the budget when the finance bill comes up for discussion in Lok Sabha on Friday.
The Prime Minister who had a detailed meeting with Sinha on Wednesday is understood to have asked the finance minister to restore the 20 per cent income tax rebate on savings for income between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh.
In the budget for 2002-03, Sinha had proposed to reduce the tax rebate to 10 per cent for this income bracket. BJP members of Parliament on Tuesday had mounted renewed pressure on Sinha to restore the 20 per cent tax rebate besides roll back some of the excise duties slapped on small scale industry.
The BJP national executive held in Goa earlier this month had also adopted an economic resolution in which it had made similar demands for rolling back several of the anti-middle class measures in the budget.
Bureau Report