BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar termed the Union budget presented on Thursday as “disappointing” with Karnataka not getting any new projects. “The budget has not addressed the real problems of people like price rise, unemployment, farmers issues and problems faced by poor people,” Siddaramaiah told reporters here.
The CM said the budget will not take the country on the path of development as claimed by the BJP, but will lead the country on the path of destruction.
During the UPA government, the average increase in the budget size used to be around 13.79 per cent, but in the current NDA government, it is around 9.6 per cent, he said and added that this clearly shows that the per capita income has not increased.
Siddaramaiah accused the Centre of doing a great injustice to Karnataka in the devolution of taxes. Though Karnataka is the second state in the country after Maharashtra in tax collection, it is the 10th state in the devolution of funds, he said and added that the major share of funds go to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Responding to Congress MP DK Suresh’s demand for a separate country for the southern states, the CM said, “The nation should remain united, the state should remain united. “
He said in the federal system, they can make demands for devolution of taxes. Shivakumar termed the budget as “the worst I have ever seen”. “I had appealed for allocation of funds for various projects in Karnataka, but nothing has been allocated.
Many irrigation projects are suffering due to paucity of funds and several new projects in Bengaluru needs funds. She (Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman) was elected from Karnataka, but the got a raw deal in the budget. It is a very disappointing budget,” the DCM said.
Shivakumar said he had sought time from the Prime Minister to discuss development works in Bengaluru, but did not get it. An allocation of Rs 5,000 crore announced for the Upper Bhadra project in the last budget has not been released yet.