The promise was something big like catching Parliamentary affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on grounds of impropriety. But soon ordinary TV viewers realised that Opposition veterans Shivraj Patil, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, and Somnath Chatterjee were banking on rhetoric. There was no precedent backing them from earlier Lok Sabhas. An interim budget statement could be made in the extended Winter session of the Lok Sabha. That it was being made in calendar year 2004 (while the Winter session had been adjourned sine die in 2003) didn’t matter. Speaker Manohar Joshi was polite enough to hear out Mssrs Patil, Munshi and Chatterjee. But his ruling was on predictable lines. Even the Opposition seemed to know what was coming.

So, Mr Singh could rise and say his part.

As if unconvinced by the forced brouhaha, leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi sat passively. Both conviction and floor coordination were in short supply. So, time was lost and the only gain made was a few minutes of fame on live television. The accusation that Mr Singh will announce sops ahead of the general elections didn’t quite stick, the proof being that his speech went virtually uninterrupted. More so, when the Speaker called for a voice vote, the ‘ayes’ were loud, the ‘nays’ nearly inaudible.

With the veterans failing, Rashtriya Janata Dal lung power was a point of last resort. Not surprising, therefore, that Laloo Yadav’s trusted lieutenant Raghuvansh Prasad Singh stood up to add some spice. Unconstitutional, mockery of democracy, the predictable stuff. It wasn’t enough to whip up much passion.

If Ms Gandhi was passive, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee didn’t even smile. Sitting next to him, deputy prime minister LK Advani too exhuded the assurance that all was in control. There wasn’t much for him to do.

Countering the Opposition’s problem with the use of the word “interim” was even easier. All Ms Swaraj had to do was to educated the Opposition and the few million glued to their TV sets that in 1996-97 an interim budget was presented by then finance minister and present leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Manmohan Singh. Usefully for Ms Swaraj, Dr Singh had used the word “interim” in the very first sentence of his budget speech.

Former prime minister Chandrashekhar contested Ms Swaraj’s explanation and said there was no doubt that this was the first session of the new year and democracy could not be run by putting forward distorted arguments. Mr Joshi wasn’t convinced. Law minister Arun Jaitley was invoked and true to his formidable court craft skills, he didn’t pre-empt the Speaker.