BENGALURU: It was meant to be a dream budget and was meant to do more. And the desire to do more reflected in Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s efforts. Unlike others who work out budgets department wise with department heads, Yediyurappa took the longer route – he decided to get a cross-section of the people to respond from all sectors and from all walks of life. And what followed was meeting after meeting which began in mid-January.
He had a grander vision for many of the schemes for the city like a better peripheral road that now connects Silk Board to Devanahalli and the north connectivity. But he had to give up due to the
fund crunch.
The other dream was Upper Krishna project where again he had planned something big considering the beneficiaries are farmers of the north Karnataka region where the electorate largely had supported the BJP. But financial constraints came in the way of the larger vision.
Yediyurappa had started the trend to provide budgetary support to mutts and religious organisations in his earlier budget. This time around, he felt constrained when reminded about `financial stretching’, according to sources.
While the opposition slammed the budget saying it expected more considering the government at the Centre and the state are both BJP, Yediyurappa has not reacted. Only his close team members know how much more he wanted to do but had to give up when his experts put every plan down and reduced it in terms of financial discipline.