BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday termed the Union Budget “disappointing” and “anti-people”.
“It has totally neglected Karnataka. It gave ‘chombu’ (empty vessel) to the state,” he told reporters.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka. The state expected that she would do justice and protect Karnataka’s interests. But this budget is disappointing, he said. “It is a big injustice to the people of Karnataka,” the CM added.
Siddaramaiah said to keep chief ministers Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar happy, special grants have been given to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. “If he (PM Modi) has to continue in power, he needs (AP and Bihar CMs’) their support. Except Andhra Pradesh, no state in the south got anything,” the CM said.
The requests made by the state at the pre-budget meeting convened by the union finance minister have not been considered. Bengaluru-Hyderabad corridor will remain a mere proposal as the NDA government has not fulfilled its announcement made earlier, he said.
No allocations for Upper Bhadra Project, says state
Despite having five union ministers from the state, including Nirmala Sitharaman and HD Kumaraswamy, the state got nothing, he said. The Centre had announced Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra Project, but no allocation has been made for it in this budget. The state sought Rs 5,000 crore for Kalyan Karnataka’s development. There is no mention of Mahadayi, Mekedatu and Upper Krishna projects in the budget. The state sought Rs 11,485 crore for peripheral ring road, lakes, and other development projects in Bengaluru as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission. Karnataka also sought a unit of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Raichur, Siddaramaiah said.