The resolution adopted unanimously by all the allies had barred them from public criticism of the Government. But four major allies including AIADMK, have announced they would exert pressure on the government to roll back the hike in price of high speed diesel (HSD).

Sedapatti R Muthiah (AIADMK), Prem Singh Chandumajra (Akali Dal), Sudip Bandopadhyay (Trinamool Congress) and Digvijay Singh (Samata Party) were unanimous in their opposition to the diesel hike during the discussion on the budget proposals in Parliament.

While Muthiah said the party would demand withdrawal of hike in postal prices, Chandumajra said his party would request the government to withdraw the proposed hike in diesel as this would affect the farming community, especially inPunjab, where farmers use this fuel as a major input. He expressed concern over the imposition of ten per cent surcharge on income tax, pointing out that this would affect middle class. Bandopadhyay said Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee's demand for such a budget was considered favourably by the Government. But postal rate hike would affect the poor, he added. Digvijay Singh said it was a Swadeshi-oriented budget. Madhukar Sarpotdar (Shiv Sena), whose party is also an ally of the Vajpayee government, said lower-salaried people should have been given some concessions.

K Yerrannaidu (TDP) said the rural development sector had not been given adequate allocation. Meanwhile in Chennai the AIADMK leader Jayalalitha saw in the budget an opportunity to settle political scores with her local rivals, DMK and TMC. Congratulating Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha for ``undoing'' the ``harm'' done by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and former Industry Minister Murasoli Maran to the economy she said Sinha hascorrectly drawn repeated attention to the grave harm done to the economy by some actions of his predecessor P Chidambaram.

Chidambaram's ``foreigner first, Indian last'' policy had led to the closure of hundreds of industrial units, many of them in Tamil Nadu, she alleged. ``It is good that to an extent these harmful policies of Chidambaram have been corrected,'' she said.

The AIADMK chief demanded a CBI inquiry into Maran's alleged role in blocking some projects while controlling the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.

The CBI should also probe the alleged misuse of government departments by Chidambaram and other DMK-TMC leaders against ``innocent political rivals'' while ``shielding their own leaders,'' she said. Jayalalitha also demanded withdrawal of the hike in the cost of inland letters.