'Guarantee'd challenge for Siddaramaiah in his 17th Budget as fear looms over fresh levies

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who will present his record 17th Budget as the finance minister on Friday, may offer new programmes for women, farmers and workers, while fear lingers that he may consider fresh levies on citizens to mobilise resources.

Siddaramaiah is scheduled to start his Budget speech at 10.15 am in the Legislative Assembly.

It was in 1994-95 that Siddaramaiah presented his first budget as the finance minister in the HD Deve Gowda government.

The 2026-27 Budget will be the fourth in his second term, and a politically significant one. The current financial year saw not only fiscal woes, but also the peaking of Siddaramaiah’s power tussle with his deputy DK Shivakumar. It is expected that Siddaramaiah will use the Budget as a platform to silence his critics -- within Congress and outside.

In 2025-26, Siddaramaiah presented an outlay of Rs 4.09 lakh crore, which could see a downward revision as the government is staring at a revenue shortfall.

Mobilising additional resources is inevitable for Siddaramaiah, who faces the challenge of having to fund the Congress' five 'guarantee' schemes and spend on infrastructure, something that lawmakers in the governing dispensation are desperately waiting for.

To shore up revenues, Siddaramaiah has a few options like hiking sales tax on petrol and diesel, motor vehicles tax and stamp duties. The government is also expected to set higher revenue collection targets for the commercial taxes and excise departments.

Siddaramaiah is also expected to point fingers at the union government for 'injustice' to Karnataka in the devolution of taxes, not sharing cesses/surcharges with states and for tweaking GST rates in the middle of the fiscal, affecting revenue collection.

'Debt-ramaiah'

Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka guessed that criticism of PM Modi and "repeated mention" of the 'guarantee' schemes will be "the only highlight" in the Budget.

"By the end of Siddaramaiah's term, the state's debt will exceed Rs 8 lakh crore, breaching fiscal discipline," Ashoka said, dubbing the CM as 'Debt-ramaiah'. He claimed that Siddaramaiah's borrowings equalled that of over a dozen CMs combined.

"This time, too, I feel he'll borrow loans amounting to Rs 1.15 lakh crore," Ashoka said. "Anybody can run the government by borrowing loans. You need a clever finance minister whose budget creates higher revenues, ensures no burden on citizens and takes the state away from debt," he said, adding that Siddaramaiah had imposed 36 taxes on citizens.

Budget on the move: Live telecast at 230 bus stands

Siddaramaiah's 2026-27 Budget presentation will be telecast live in 230 bus stands across the state using digital screens on Friday, the department of information and public relations (DIPR) said. Siddaramaiah's customary news conference after the budget presentation will also be shown live.

The Budget speech of the CM can be watched LIVE here

"This is the first time that the Budget presentation will be telecast live at bus stands. The CM, who is also the finance minister, is creating a new record by presenting his 17th budget," DIPR commissioner Hemant Nimbalkar said in a statement.