Opposition in the Kerala Assembly staged a walkout after charging the government with leaking excerpts of the budget for 2017-18 to the social media.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala raised the issue two and a half hours into the presentation of the budget by Finance Minister Thomas Isaac.

The Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan agreed this was a serious issue and will be looked into but requested the Opposition to allow the Finance Minister to present the budget in full.

Intervening in the matter, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reasoned that it was normal for some parts of the budget to get into online media just as it was being presented in the Assembly.

But if anything beyond this has happened, it would be subjected to grave examination, following which the government would come out with a statement.

But the Opposition said the leak of budget was unprecedented and the very sanctity of the document has been compromised. It then chose to stage a walkout. It went on to demand the resignation of the Finance Minister.

Earlier, presenting his eighth budget, Thomas Isaac refrained from proposing new taxes in view of the fact that the Goods and Services Tax is due for implementation from July 1.

He announced that social security pension will be raised to Rs 1,100 across the board, and also went on to declare a scheme of free internet connectivity for the poor.

Called K-Phone, the scheme will be implemented by laying an optical fibre network parallel to the distribution network of Kerala State Electricity Board.

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