Budget speech sans electoral references

Nirmala’s speech was without usual flourishes that elicit thumping from treasury benches

As Budget speeches go, had almost no reference to any poll-bound States and appeared to be a broad strokes oration on the government's economic interventions without populist announcements.

Delivered from a lectern in the second row of the treasury benches, unusual for finance ministers who are frontbenchers even on non-Budget days, the speech was without the usual flourishes that elicit thumping from the treasury benches, the special allocations, some references to particular States.