BENGALURU: Opposition BJP has intensified its attack on HD Kumaraswamy’s budget which is being seen as heavily loaded in favour of the old Mysuru region. Party legislators from the coastal districts staged a protest in front of the Gandhi statue in Vidhana Soudha premises on Friday against the alleged injustice for people of coastal region.
“Coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi have been totally neglected in the budget. Special emphasis has been given to old Mysuru region. JD(S)-Congress coalition government is indulging in vindictive politics as people of the coastal region had overwhelmingly voted for BJP in the recent Assembly election,” BJP MLA Sunil Kumar, who led the protest said.
BJP members threatened to continue the protest both inside and outside the legislature. Replying to a question about CM Kumaraswamy’s clarification that the previous Siddaramaiah government had in its last budget announced many proposals for the development of the region and these proposals would be continued by the present government, Sunil Kumar said, “No projects were announced even in previous Siddaramaiah budget. The project for the development of ports is funded by the Union government. No funds from state government have been released.”
The protest and allegations of BJP legislators made Kumaraswamy livid. “I don’t know whether they understand Kannada. I will reply to all their (BJP) allegations during my reply to the debate on Budget in the legislature. The budget includes the initiatives announced by the Siddaramaiah budget (presented on February 16) which includes the development of industrial clusters in northern Karnataka and development of ports in the coastal region. The budget has many programmes for all-round development of all the regions,” Kumaraswamy said.