BENGALURU: The simmering discontent within the Congress over Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s budget proposals to cut free rice quota under the Anna Bhagya scheme from 7kg to 5kg per head and hike in the price of petrol and diesel is turning into a crisis with Coordination Committee chairman Siddraramaiah himself leading the charge. As the discord threatens to undermine the stability of the coalition government, Kumaraswamy is likely to roll back the fuel price hike and restore Anna Bhagya to its earlier form.
Kumaraswamy is expected to announce the rollback during his reply to the debate on the Budget in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday. He has been compelled to take a relook at both the issues after Siddaramaiah wrote to him expressing his displeasure at the blow delivered to his popular Anna Bhagya scheme. Interestingly, many JD(S) members too, including senior MLAs H Vishwanath and A T Ramaswamy, have voiced a similar demand of a rollback.
Siddaramaiah has also disapproved the additional tax burden on petrol and diesel which not only affects the common man, but also runs contrary to Congress’ stand at the national level against the Modi government, demanding reduction in the tax burden on petrol and diesel.The confrontation came into the open on Wednesday as Siddaramaiah served the warning at a Congress convention where Dinesh Gundu Rao took over as the KPCC president. The budget came under fire at the Congress Legislature Party meeting too earlier in the day.
Siddaramaiah is said to have pointed out that the rollback on fuel price and Anna Bhagya would mean loss of revenue of just about `1,500cr to `1,700cr which could be mobilised through other means.Coming under pressure from the coalition partner, Kumaraswamy is not pleased. “I will consider the letter Siddaramaiah has written,” when Express spoke to him. However, the anger was evident when he asked, “If we do not hike the taxes, where will we get the money for farm loan waiver from? If this was an issue, why was it not discussed in the coordination committee meeting?”
According to sources close to Kumaraswamy, he is almost certain to roll back the 2% tax hike on petrol and diesel as it is a request from Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The hike was effected to fetch an additional revenue of `1,000cr.