Kick the bottle at this age, Pranab tells Jaswant

Kick the bottle, was the advice of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh in the Lok Sabha on Monday, leading to much mirth in the House.

The advice to Singh on the ill-effects of consuming alcohol at his age was given by Mukherjee when he was winding up a discussion on the Finance Bill.

While participating in the discussion, 71-year-old Singh had said in a jocular vein that the increase in exemption limit by Rs 10,000 for Income Tax was so meagre that it was not enough to buy even a bottle of whisky.

"I will advise him (Singh) that at this age it is not wise to have whisky as I have myself given up the habit of smoking pipe," Mukherjee said while replying to the debate over the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha.