Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who met top Congress leaders in New Delhi for over two hours on Saturday, said that the views expressed by the party leaders would find a place in the forthcoming Budget for 2005-2006.

Addressing newsmen Chidambaram said that he decided to hold a meeting with the party leaders prior to presentation of the Union Budget at the behest of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

"Mrs Gandhi felt that I must visit the AICC office and talk to top 20-30 leaders from across the country and know their point of view. I have listened to them and these views would find an echo in the Budget," he said.

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The finance minister said that six sectors have been identified where the Congress would like to place greater emphasis in days to come.

"First and foremost, we will pay attention to the agriculture sector -- particularly the credit for the farmers, employment generation schemes for the unemployed, rural infrastructure, health and education. Special attention would be paid to the schemes relating to women, weavers, and other weaker sections of the society," he explained when asked which sectors have been ear marked for special attention.

Ambika Soni, Congress general secretary, clarified that issues like raising the personal income tax limit, rising prices of cooking gas or introduction of VAT, etc were not taken up during the finance minister's meeting with the senior party leaders.

"We did not confine our selves to the problems that we face in our individual constituencies and instead gave our broader perspective of the feelings of our electorate and the areas that need to be addressed to in the Union Budget. I have neither been finance minister in the past nor do I hope to become one in future. So I am not going to answer the technical questions like VAT, etc," she said.

Congress leaders expect that the high profile pre-budget meeting with the senior party leaders would send the right kind of signals to the voters in Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana and help the party in improving its position.

"The party leaders can now tell the electorate that they are not mere spectators but they are also being consulted in the preparation of the Union Budget," said a senior Congress leader.