New Delhi: PV Narasimha Rao is rightly hailed as the original middle class hero in the historic manner in which he opened up the economy creating unlimited opportunities. But that was an opportunity born out of economic adversity.

About 36 years later, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has given a new lease of life to the Indian middle class. With her historic February 1 budget, the economic backbone of India, has got the political attention it deserves.

Now that the FM has bitten the bullet, how is this major reform likely to pan out politically and economically? Politically, the upcoming Delhi elections, where we have a sizable middle class population, the record tax cut should ideally serve as a fillip. But the mega metro middle class has traditionally been somewhat indifferent to the electoral process with relatively lower voter turnout among the cohort.

Will the tax cut cheer swing political preferences given the voting pattern in Delhi over the last decade? Unlikely, since the election in the Union capital is going to be decided largely by the bottom of the pyramid cohort which has displayed a certain preference for voting in state assembly elections as against the Lok Sabha........

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