Siddaramaiah's single answer to multitude of demands by MLAs

"I will look into it and take a decision.” This was the standard, one-line reply Chief Minister Siddaramaiah gave to members of all political parties who sought inclusion of their various demands in the revised budget in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

Almost all MLAs had their own demand to be included in the budget and, they tried to draw the attention of the chief minister. For instance, B Sriramulu (BSR Cong) wanted desilting of Tungabhadra dam, C T Ravi (BJP) wanted a medical college in Chikmagalur, N Chaluvarayaswamy (JD-S) sought funds for Mandya sugar factory, and Umesh Katti (BJP) wanted one per cent VAT on sugar to be removed.

At the same time, MLAs from Chikmagalur district -- Ravi, D N Jeevaraj (BJP) and B B Ningaiah (JD-S) -- staged a dharna in the well of the House for not fulfilling their demands. Ravi and Jeevaraj wanted the chief minister to sanction a dairy and a medical college for the district, while the JD(S) member was demanding a special package to compensate for the damage caused by rains.

Ravi alleged that all the announcements made for Chikmagalur district by the previous BJP government have been dropped. To this, the chief minister said it is not binding on him to adopt the announcements made in the budget presented by his predecessor.

He said the government is holding talks with Andhra Pradesh on taking up desilting of the Tungabhadra dam. An estimated 30 tmc ft of silt has accumulated in the dam.

He said the state is unlikely to face power shortage as all dams, including hydel reservoirs, are full. “Power problem appears to have been solved. I don't think there will be any problem with our neighbouring states (on river water sharing) this year,” he stated.

The Centre has recently sanctioned 382 metric tonnes of coal linkage to the State, enabling it to take up all major thermal power generation projects, he added.

Siddaramaiah denied that he has given top priority to Ahinda (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and dalits) in the budget. It is an inclusive budget and overall development of the state has been given priority, he added
When too many MLAs demanded grants for their constituencies, he said, “I do not have currency printing machines to given money for all the packages demanded by you.”