BENGALURU: People in north Karnataka are disappointed with the coalition government’s first budget that had no new plans for development of the region, senior Congress leader H K Patil has stated in a strongly worded letter written to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy. BJP leaders too have accused the CM of focusing only on a few districts in south Karnataka and neglecting other regions of the state.Patil, a former minister from north Karnataka, who was miffed over not being inducted into the cabinet, also accused the CM of ignoring the minorities in the budget. He urged the CM to take corrective measures and announce the same when he responds to the debate on the budget in the Assembly.
“Apart from mentioning the programmes announced in the previous budget, no new programmes for the development of north Karnataka have been announced in the coalition government’s budget. People in the region are disappointed with the budget and it has also hurt their sentiments. It is the government’s duty to respect their sentiments,” Patil said.
Patil has urged Coalition Coordination Committee chairman Siddaramaiah to convene an emergency meeting of the committee to discuss the issue. “ There is a need to announce some programmes to correct the regional imbalance in the state. I urge you to take up the issue in the coordination committee,” Patil has stated in his letter to Siddaramaiah.
The Congress leader said minorities in the state-supported Congress in the recent Assembly polls and cannot afford to ignore them in the first budget. “Minority community was responsible for the victory of secular forces in the 2018 elections. At least some programmes for the welfare of the community should have been announced in the budget,” he added.
Patil, however, welcomed other measures announced in the budget, including farm loan waiver. Apart from Patil, ministers UT Khader and Zameer Ahmed Khan too had expressed displeasure over not many programmes being announced in the budget for the welfare of the minorities.