Speaker Dattaji Nalawade admonished the Congress, Janata Dal and Peasants & Workers Party MLAs who held aloft three banners condemning the Government's commitment to tribals. He urged Shivankar to continue his speech, but almost nothing was audible as some protestors wound their way to the Speaker's chair and others strode towards the Treasury Benches shouting slogans.

Eventually, some MLAs, including those of the Congress, surrounded Shivankar's chairin order to hear him better, leading Nalawade to admonish everybody including Madhukar Pichad, Leader of Opposition, for not being able to control his MLAs. ``Your time is over. You were given 84 minutes to speak and you all spoke and made your demands for 160 minutes....now it's his turn to speak and yours to listen,'' Nalawade told the protestors pointing to Shivankar. Pichad said that the Government must say something on the tribal welfare allocation issue during the current session itself. Only when Chief Minister Narayan Rane intervened, did the commotion stop. Rane promised to call a meeting of Opposition leaders and tribal MLAs, including those who were protesting, to discuss and sort out the deadlock. A joint meeting would be held soon during this Assembly Session itself, he said, but Shivankar skirted the issue during his reply later. He only asserted that the absolute allocation was twice of that made by the erstwhile Congress government, and that Rs 580.59 crore out of budgetary outlay of Rs 6641crore was more than four per cent. His sleight of hand was to avoid mention of the total plan outlay of Rs 12,161 crore.

The second incident concerned a demand by some MLAs, led by JD's Narsayya Adam, to revoke the four per cent sales tax on Solapuri bedsheets and towels. They were joined by a handful of Congress MLAs who later returned to their seats, while Adam and others squatted on the floor and eventually walked out of the House. Their demand: the sales tax imposed in this Budget would throttle the well-functioning industry in western Maharashtra that employs more than a lakh people and it must be revoked. They also felt that the small-scale industry pays nearly 20-25 per cent sales tax on various raw materials and the four cent on finished goods was uncalled for.

However, Shivankar refused to acknowledge this in his speech and Rane supported him, saying that the Government could not give in to all the demands raised in this manner by the Opposition. To another demand to raise the MLA fund to Rs twocrore, Shivankar said he would place the proposal before the State Cabinet soon. He justified abolishing VAT and asserted that the Employment Guarantee Scheme was functioning properly.

Shivankar's major sop was to extend the octroi abolition to gram panchayats as well. Dismissing the Opposition's fears that the abolition in municipal councils would lead to a financial mess, he promised that the State Government would despatch cheques to municipal councils and gram panchayats of equivalent amounts with 1997-98 as the base year, promptly on the first of every month. The octroi department workers will be employed in other departments, he added.

Shivankar announced a Rs 25 lakh award for those penning Tukaram Gatha, Sant Tukaram's story, and two other awards in the literary and culture fields. But the announcement that took most members by surprise was the intention to set up a Tax Academy to collect data and information on taxes, analyse it and train officers during special postings and promotions.The Academy, he said, would be of a permanent nature. He also taunted the Opposition, saying that the Government had taken massive loans because it had the confidence of the investors and this money was invested in developmental works. ``You people criticise us for Krishna Valley programme. Because your Government did nothing till 1994, we had to provide such huge amounts to impound water till 2000. Of the 2100 crore committed, we have already disbursed Rs 1800 crore,'' he said.

However, his Budget reply lacked punch and skirted several important issues raised during the two-day debate, said Opposition members. Earlier, R R Patil of the Congress had charged the Government with pandering to select groups and individuals in his budget. Abolishing tax on panchang (Indian calendar) was at the behest of the Kalnirnay group's Jayantrao Salgaocar, known for his proximity to this Government, Patil said. Similarly, the concessions given to liquor industry/shops took place after a token amount was collectedfrom each shop owner by their association and presumably used to bargain for the concession. ``We want to know who in the Government benefited from this,'' he said. Others castigated the Government for a debt-heavy budget and said it would hurtle the State towards bankruptcy.