Sops likely in UPA-II's last budget before elections

UPA-II's last budget may offer some sops to salary earners and households as Finance Minister P Chidambaram will look to balance the compulsions of growth and fiscal prudence with election year politics. The biggest challenge before Chidambaram, who will be presenting his eighth budget, would be to keep every constituent happy, arrest decelerating economic growth and bring down fiscal deficit to committed level of 4.8 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).