<p>It was a unique gift from his hometown of Siddaramanahundi in Mysore district that never reached Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. For, the gift was a live and kicking sheep which was transported to the gates of the Vidhana Soudha as a gift from a well-wisher, minutes before Siddaramaiah presented the budget on Friday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Symbolic with Siddaramaiah’s Kuruba community, the sheep was claimed to have been bathed and decorated by his well-wisher Kamsale Ravi before being brought to Bangalore. <br /><br />While Ravi tried his best to convince the security staff at the gates of the Vidhana Soudha to allow him to hand over the gift to Siddaramaiah, the sheep never made it inside the high security building. <br /><br />Earlier, before Siddaramaiah left his home for the Vidhana Soudha to present the eighth budget of his career, he was offered Ganga jala by an unidentified visitor from Varanasi who was in saffron robes. But, Siddaramaiah refused to accept ‘the water from the Ganga.’ The visitor left the premises muttering something which was not pleasant to the ears of the chief minister. <br /><br />Inside the Assembly, trying to help the cause of sheep/goat rearers, Siddaramaiah announced two new schemes in the budget. A proposal has been made to provide ex-gratia compensation of Rs 3,000 to the owner whose sheep/goat die accidently or due to certified epidemic diseases but not covered under natural calamity relief or insurance schemes. An allocation of Rs two crore has been made for the purpose. <br /><br />Secondly, Siddaramaiah has proposed that persons belonging to the Kuruba community engaged in sheep rearing would get loans at four per cent interest and, a maximum subsidy of Rs one lakh. It is said that there are about 95.65 lakh sheep and 61.57 lakh goats in the state.</p>
<p>It was a unique gift from his hometown of Siddaramanahundi in Mysore district that never reached Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. For, the gift was a live and kicking sheep which was transported to the gates of the Vidhana Soudha as a gift from a well-wisher, minutes before Siddaramaiah presented the budget on Friday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Symbolic with Siddaramaiah’s Kuruba community, the sheep was claimed to have been bathed and decorated by his well-wisher Kamsale Ravi before being brought to Bangalore. <br /><br />While Ravi tried his best to convince the security staff at the gates of the Vidhana Soudha to allow him to hand over the gift to Siddaramaiah, the sheep never made it inside the high security building. <br /><br />Earlier, before Siddaramaiah left his home for the Vidhana Soudha to present the eighth budget of his career, he was offered Ganga jala by an unidentified visitor from Varanasi who was in saffron robes. But, Siddaramaiah refused to accept ‘the water from the Ganga.’ The visitor left the premises muttering something which was not pleasant to the ears of the chief minister. <br /><br />Inside the Assembly, trying to help the cause of sheep/goat rearers, Siddaramaiah announced two new schemes in the budget. A proposal has been made to provide ex-gratia compensation of Rs 3,000 to the owner whose sheep/goat die accidently or due to certified epidemic diseases but not covered under natural calamity relief or insurance schemes. An allocation of Rs two crore has been made for the purpose. <br /><br />Secondly, Siddaramaiah has proposed that persons belonging to the Kuruba community engaged in sheep rearing would get loans at four per cent interest and, a maximum subsidy of Rs one lakh. It is said that there are about 95.65 lakh sheep and 61.57 lakh goats in the state.</p>
