TEHRAN A minority of 70 MPs threw down the gauntlet to President Mohammad Khatami on Saturday, saying he has practiced "discrimination and inequality" in allocating credits from the annual budget for the next Iranian calendar year (starting March 21), presented to the Parliament (Majlis) last month to different sectors, the daily Entekhab said Sunday.

"The national annual budget is an indication of the loyalty of the state officials to fighting poverty, corruption and discrimination stressed by the Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei," the letter said.

"But," it added, "The 1380 budget bill in certain points contradicts justice and equality."

That is the case while on submitting the 450 trillion rial ($57 billion) draft budget to Majlis, President Khatami said that Iran was well on course for economic recovery.

Iran is expecting a surplus revenue of about $10 billion from strong oil prices in the current year.

Khatami told Majlis the budget had been drafted to meet the goals of his Five-Year Economic Recovery Plan, launched in March to create more jobs.

Khatami's opponents attribute higher indices to higher oil revenues, rather than a structural economic improvement. Oil is the driving force behind the Iranian economy, providing half of government revenues.

The president said his government would try to ease reliance on oil and generate revenue through taxes and other sources.

(IRNA)