ISLAMABAD Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday in a bid to diffuse the ongoing situation of political wrangling with the coalition partners, assured the Upper House that the PPP-led government would continue to work with its allies and all their reservations would be addressed soon. The PM further said that the criticism was the essence of democracy. However, Senator Abdul Razzaq Thaheem belonging to PML-F, who gathered from the PMs speech as if he was being pinpointed, latter responded that his party unconditionally supported the government. The PM who came to the House on the insistence that had come from many Senators during the on-going session, termed the present budget as the best document in the current situation. Whatever will be the recommendations of the Upper House about the Finance Bill for 2010-11, those would be addressed as the top priority, Gilani added. He also expressed his sympathies over the killing of a Pakistani student during the ethnic riots in Kyrgystan, adding that a C-130 aircraft had already left for Osh to bring back the stranded students from there. While answering the query of Chairman Senate regarding Haj fares, he said that the Government was negotiating with all the stakeholders in that regard, and it would try to decrease the fares to every limit of possibility. Earlier, Senator Ilyas Bilour of ANP speaking on the budget debate, in an attempt to rescue the Government from the opposition of his own coalition partners on the budget, grilled the previous regime for its dubious role in the privatisation process of certain public sector enterprises, adding that it was responsible for the present worst economic situation in the country. Maulana Ghafoor Haidri of JUI-F was of the view that the budget had failed to address the two areas, one the provision of resources for the development of the backward areas and other its strategy to alleviate poverty. He termed adhocism as the main cause of the countrys backwardness, adding that the rulers always tried to solve the issues on adhoc basis in the 63 years history of Pakistan. The other speakers who spoke on the budget debate included Afia Zia, Begum Najma Hamid, Zafar Ali Shah, Ms Farhat Abbas, Abdul Khaliq Pirzada Begum Surrya Ameer-ud-Din and Abdul Razaq Thaem. Before Haji Ghulam Ali took the floor of the House, the journalists covering the proceedings walked out from the press gallery in protest of the downsizing of journalists from some media organisations. The journalists also condemned the owners of some media organisations for not paying their monthly salaries in time. Later, Chairman Senate referred the matter to the concerned Standing Committee of Information and Broadcasting on the request of Leader of the HouseSenator Nayer Bokhari. Bokhari also apprised the House of the efforts of the government to bring back Pakistani students who were marooned during the ethnic riots in Kyrgystan. Senators Zahid Khan and Prof Khurshid Ahmed had raised the issue on the point of order.