It is a "revised" budget, says Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru, July 5: Welcoming the farm loan waiver, former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today termed the budgetpresented by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy as a "revisedbudget."

Asserting that it is the budget of the coalition government, Siddaramaiah said the coordination committee of whichhe is the chairman had approved the loan waiver.

"This is coalition government's budget. Continuing the programmes of our previous government the Chief Minister has presented a revised budget. Specially, waiving loan by farmers in this budget is a welcome thing. Coordination committee has approved this," Siddaramaiah said in a tweetin Kannada.

Later speaking to reporters, he said the budgetwas in accordance with the common minimum programme of thecoalition.

"We had prepared a common minimum programme since it is a coalition government, the budget presented is in accordance with it," Siddaramaiah said.

All programmes of the previous governmenthave been continued, he said adding "both parties had decided about loan waiver and we had mentioned about in the common minimum programme, so they have done it."

BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa said the Chief Minister had proved through this budget that he was underthe compulsion and mercy of the Congress and not at theservice of the people.

He said Kumaraswamy has not been able to overcome political compulsions and present a pro-people budget.

"On one hand, Congress President Sri Rahul Gandhi urges the Union government to decrease the prices of petrol and diesel. However, the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka has hiked the prices of petrol and diesel by two per cent. The budget is full of such contradictions," he added.

Stating that Kumaraswamy is not "honest" on the issue of farm loan waiver, Yeddyurappa said in a statement that, "having declared that he would waive all farm loansincluding those obtained from nationalised banks, Kumaraswamy,however, has restricted himself to waiving loans to theextent of Rs 2 lakhs applicable till 31.12.2017. This isnothing but taking farmers for a ride."

The budget does not have a comprehensive vision for the development of Karnataka and is also lacking in political will, he added.

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PTI