New Delhi, Feb. 11 -- Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Tuesday termed the union budget as "hollow" and said senior ministers were not present in Lok Sabha during Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's reply to the debate.

"It is very unfortunate that the top ministers were absent, HM was absent, Defence Minister was absent, Health Minister was absent...It shows the non-seriousness of the Budget. Meanwhile Opposition parties, particularly LoP Rahul Gandhi, DMK leader TR Baalu, Akhilesh Yadav, all of us were present. But the Government is not taking the Budget seriously. We know that this was a hollow Budget," Tagore told ANI.

"This Budget was not for the people, it was only to do politics over the Opposition parties' ruled states. She alway...