JOIN USMembers of the Opposition in the Assembly described the budget proposals as ‘dull and dry,’ without any new programme. The Opposition appeared to be united in its arraignment of the chief minister’s budget speech, saying that such a budget was never expected from Siddaramaiah. Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar said that many promises made earlier had remained unfulfilled and the allocations for various sector had reduced.
“Siddaramaiah has presented 10 budgets earlier. But, unlike the previous ones, this is like just reading out the annual report. This was not expected from him,” he said.
He expressed surprise over the reduction in allocation for health and education sectors and for not mentioning about extending implementation of the Dr Nanjundappa report to rectify regional imbalances.
JD(S) leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy termed the budget a failure of the Siddaramaiah government. He lashed out at the chief minister, saying that he was taking the State towards an economic crisis.
“There is a slump in income from excise and vehicles. Our debts are increasing. He used to criticise our budget (when Kumaraswamy was chief minister), saying it will lead to economic crisis. Now, what is he doing?” he said.
Basavaraj Bommai, BJP, said there was nothing new for the irrigation sector. Last year, they had allocated Rs 11,000 crore for irrigation projects and this year, it is just Rs 12,996. It is actually a reduction in allocation given the rising inflation, which has led to an increase in prices of raw materials,” he said.
South Bidar MLA Ashok Kheny described the budget as nothing special as there are no new projects or programmes even for Bengaluru. There is no talk of allocation of land for the Indian Institute of Technology allotted to the State by the Centre.
JD(S) leader H D Revanna said that the power sector had been completely neglected as no new project was being taken up. The announcement of capacity addition in the budget is actually the contribution of the previous government.
Another JD(S) leader Y S V Datta was upset with the government for not providing his constituency - Kadur in Chikkamagaluru district - basic amenities like water. “Instead they have given us an open air sub-jail,” he said.