NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday had a ready answer to the remarks by opposition leader Jaswant Singh last week that the income tax exemption in the budget was not enough to even buy a bottle of whiskey.

“He should give up (whiskey) if he has not already given it up,” Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, responding to Singh’s remarks during the debate on the Finance Bill.

“I myself gave up the habit of smoking pipe,” the finance minister added amid laughter, alluding that the senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party could emulate him, as such habits were not advisable at their age. Singh is 71 and Mukherjee 73.

Singh had said that the increase in the income tax exemption limit meant little even for senior citizens like him. All that men above 65 will get is Rs.1,030, while women will gain Rs.1,545, he had said, pointing towards party colleague Sushma Swaraj.

“Sir, Rs.1,030? At my age?” the senior BJP MP from Darjeeling in West Bengal then asked the presiding officer, clearly expressing his dissatisfaction with the quantum of exemption.

“It would not get me a bottle of whiskey.”