Since this byelection was a matter of prestige for the SAD and the Congress, the SAD high command put all its might in the byelection.

The voters of this constituency too did not lag behind in devising a strategy. They thought the victory of the ruling party candidate will benefit them more than that of the opposition candidate. This type of voters strategy is limited to byelections only, in which normally the ruling party candidate wins. The reality is however, different in general elections, while the Congress thought that a victory in this byelection would boost the morale of party workers for facing the 2014 Lok Sabha election, SAD on the other hand, was eager to win this seat for carrying on with its winning streak and for gaining a simple majorityin the Assembly.

RAVINDER SINGH, Jalandhar

Budget response

Streamlining the policies and programmes and their effective and monitored execution should now be on the agenda of policy makers. The budget deficit can very effectively be kept under control and as promised can further be reduced by curtailing wasteful government expenditure. The persons at the helm of economic affairs of the nation must check the implementation part which can go a long way not only in restricting the budget deficit but in chalking out well directed growth of the economy too.

Some hope has been revived by the Finance Minister and let us expect that with the better execution and implementation of promises made in this budget, the economic scenario will improve in the coming days.

Keeping the budget deficit under control is praiseworthy and suitably ignites the hope for improvement in the overall economy. The Finance Minister deserves to be patted for daring to give the much required pinch to the affluent sector. Although no concessions have been offered to the middle or poor segment, yet in the present circumstances, sparing them with regard to the additional burden of taxes should be taken as a matter of relief.

Dr SANJEEV TRIKHA, Fatehabad

Proving true to name

The news item ‘'Meghalaya polls: Field Marshal, Hitler in fray’ (February 21) has opened a new thesaurus of unique names that may spread a contagion in other parts of the country. There is already a rat race for adopting fancy names.

 Gone are the days when only the name of an established political party was considered winning ammunition. Meghalaya politicians are the first ones to sense the malady and have wisely searched new options to attract voters. But a piquant situation may arise after election results. What happens if Adolf Hitler Barak adorns the Chief Minister's chair and Field Marshal Mawphniang is the leader of Opposition? Will legislators like Hilarious Dkhar prove true to their names and provide moments of entertainment in the Assembly and likes of  Kismat Sangmas save the government from a no-confidence motion ?