Karnataka budget to be presented in first week of February, says Siddaramaiah

HAVERI: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday announced that since the code of conduct for elections will be in place in March, he would present the state budget in the first week of February.

"We will present the budget early," he told reporters in Narasapura helipad in Haveri.

The state government is facing the challenge of ensuring implementation of five guarantee schemes and also to ensure that development also has enough funds. The BJP is alleging that the Congress government had destroyed the economy of the state by not focussing on generating revenue for the guarantee schemes.

Siddaramaiah, on the other hand, maintained that the state government had given Rs 2,000 compensation each for farmers in drought period temporarily.

"As soon as we get a package from the Central government, more compensation would be provided to farmers," he stated.

"I know that the present compensation provided by the government is not enough. But, till date, no funds have been released by the Central government. The BJP leaders, instead of doing criticism, let them get the funds released," he said.

Reacting to Union Minister Pralhad Joshi's statement that the culture of issuing derogatory remarks is started by CM Siddaramaiah, while defending BJP leader Anantkumar Hegde's remarks, Siddaramaiah said: "As an MP and former Union Minister, Hegde's contribution is zero. He was absconding for three years and he is trying to get attention by issuing such statements. Culture is all about humanity. Humanity should be there. The statement also reflects the culture of Union Minister Joshi,"

Reacting to Hegde's comments where he used the word "son" in Kannada for him, the Chief Minister had said earlier that if Hegde used obscene words for him for the sake of political reasons, the language reflects his culture.