BENGALURU: The State Assembly on Tuesday witnessed heated exchanges between Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Leader of Opposition Siddaramiah over development works taken up by the BJP and Congress governments.
During the discussion on the state budget, Siddaramaiah accused the government of not making adequate budgetary allocations to various departments, taking Rs 2,69,000 crore loan in three years, not following fiscal discipline and not getting grants from the Centre.
As Siddaramaiah took a dig at the Prime Minister, Bommai hit back, questioning what happened to the Congress’s ‘Garibi Hatao’ slogan. “Poor became poorer. Entire country became poor under the Congress rule,” the CM said and added that Congress governments started taking loans and they are responsible for the increase in debts for successive government.
Bommai said the Congress took 50 years to build dams, India was dependent on other countries during the Congress rule and they had failed to even provide food to people. There was no need for taking loans if the Congress governments had managed the administration well, he said. Privatisation of government institutions was started by the Congress government, and natural resources, including mines, were handed over to a few rich people.
Water Resources Minister Govind Karjol said the Congress government did huge injustice to irrigation projects in the state. As the CM and Opposition leaders were speaking at the same time, members from both sides, too, were involved in heated exchanges.
Siddaramaiah said though the financial year is ending, the State Government has not issued orders to start 52 works announced in the budget and some of them were dropped. “That is not the way a pro-people government works,” the former CM said.
Explaining allocation for the departments, Siddaramaiah said in his last budget, presented on February 16, 2018, he had allocated Rs 18,112 crore for irrigation. It was Rs 21,180 crore in the 2021-22 budget and Rs 20,660 crore in the 2022-23 budget.