New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which pressurised the government to roll back some of the "anti-middle class" measures in the Budget including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) price hike, on March 16 hinted that more tax sops like cut in surcharge and increased exemption for small saving schemes are in the "offing".

"We are happy to hear the roll back in LPG prices, an announcement regarding roll back in levying of surcharge on income tax and also on the reduction in incentives for savings is also in the offing," BJP spokesman V K Malhotra told reporters.

Sensing that a "large section of middle-class voters were annoyed with it" ahead of the crucial Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls, a group of BJP Members of Parliament (MPs) from Delhi had on March 15 met Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Finance Minsiter Yashwant Sinha to demand roll back of certain proposals in the Budget.

Apart from the steep hike of Rs 40 per cylinder of LPG, which was rolled back by Rs 20 on March 16, Malhotra listed the five per cent surcharge and reduction in tax concession for small saving schemes for higher income groups as some of the measures in the Budget, which were unpopular with the middle class.

PTI