When Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presents the Budget today, his Minister of State SS Palanimanickam will not be him in the Lok Sabha. The DMK leader will be in Tamil Nadu instead with his party chief M Karunanidhi.
Though DMK sources insist that too much should not be read into Mr Palanimanickam's absence, it comes very close to the party's stated unhappiness with the UPA government it partners on the Sri Lanka war crimes issue.
This is the first time since he took over as MOS, Finance, that Mr Palanimanickam will be missing when the Budget is presented. He has held that position since 2004, when the UPA first formed government at the Centre. The DMK leader has opted today to campaign for a by-election in Sankarankoil, Tamilnadu.
The DMK had earlier this week assured the UPA that it would not embarrass or destabilise the government.
The Tamil Nadu party has 18 members in the Lok Sabha, only one less than Trinamool Congress (TMC), whose support to the UPA government has come under a cloud following the Railway Budget. The TMC has opposed a proposed fare hike in the Rail Budget, which was presented by its own Member of Parliament and Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi.
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