BENGALURU: Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who presented his 17th budget recently, missed the golden opportunity to serve the people of the state. “His budget has financial and intellectual bankruptcy,” Vijayendra told the Assembly on Thursday.
Claiming that the recent state budget shows that the Congress government is appeasing just one community, Vijayendra said Siddaramaiah blamed the Centre for hiding his government’s failure. “The government failed to collect its target taxes and has taken extensive loans, burdening people,” the BJP leader said, adding that the state’s fiscal deficit was increasing.
Calling the budget full of lies, Vijayendra said the budget claims that it has given priority to filling government posts and building roads, bridges, and infrastructure. “If that is true, then how many roads have been constructed in the last three years? How many bridges have been built? How many government posts have been filled? None of these details is mentioned anywhere,” he pointed out.
On the State Government’s allegations of not getting its share in taxes from the Centre, Vijayendra said Karnataka pays Rs 4.3 lakh crore to the Centre through many sources like income tax and GST. “But those who are making these allegations are not taking expenditure made by the Centre on sectors such as defence, national highways, and railways into consideration,” he said.
He further stated that under the federal system, revenue collected from developed states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu is redistributed through the Centre to less developed and highly populated states so that all states can progress together. “During the UPA regime in 2014, Karnataka contributed Rs 1.4 lakh crore to the central pool but received only Rs 28,000 crore through fund allocation,” he claimed.
Meanwhile, Karkala MLA V Sunil Kumar (BJP) told the Assembly on Thursday that his party will come to power and its leader will become the CM in 2028 in the state. Sunil Kumar made this statement after RDPR and IT/BT minister Priyank Kharge said that the NDA ally JDS is hoping that PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will make Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy as CM in 2028. Sunil asked Priyank to clarify as to whether Siddaramaiah will continue as CM or will be replaced.
Terdal BJP MLA Siddu Savadi’s remark triggered a debate over the leadership issue. He alleged that the Congress was indulging in vote bank politics by appeasing a section of society and ignoring others.