The State Budget 2012-13 will be presented in the second week of March, said Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda at Bilagi on Wednesday.

He told mediapersons that priority would be accorded to irrigation and agriculture. The stage III of the Upper Krishna project would be completed in six years in a phased manner, without violating the award of the Krishna Water Tribunal, he said in reply to a query.

The chief minister, who was in the town to launch various development works, waited for more than an hour for former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa’s arrival at a college.

The two ministers from the district, Govind Karjol and Murugesh Nirani, were absent as they were accompanying Yeddyurappa. Reacting to the campaign by B B Shivappa and other members of the BJP from north Karnataka demanding his removal, Yeddyurappa sarcastically said: “The suggestion is worth considering. Let the State party unit chief K S Eshwarappa and the chief minister decide.”