Tied down by coalition constraints, rues Pranab Mukherjee

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday that political constraints reduced his ability to take hard decisions in his present stint.
Mukherjee said he had to deal with political and economic challenges when he took over as finance minister and his main task was to nurse the economy back to a high growth path. Restoring the health of public finances and dealing with stubbornly high inflation were also priorities for him.
“The political constraints were that to take certain hard decisions whether it will be possible for me to get the approval of the political parties as we are having a fractured mandate,” Mukherjee told NDTV in an interview while describing his stint as finance minister.
“Alliance partner or alliance supporter the net result is the same that I have to carry the conviction with them,” the finance minister said when asked about the difficulties of dealing with the Communist parties and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
Asked who posed the maximum difficulty between Mamata Banerjee and the left parties, Mukherjee said: “It is very difficult to make an assessment.”
Budget 2012
Budget News 2012