Karnataka Budget 2018: Cong-JD(S) shake on farm loan waiver

Bengaluru, July 3: A key hurdle was cleared and Karnataka's ruling coalition agreed on a Common Minimum Programme. The CMP was finalised at the coordination committee meeting of the Congress and JD(S) and it was decided that the farm loan waiver would go through.

The two parties also agreed on building 2 million new homes and creating 10 million new jobs in the next five years. These would be part of the Karnataka Budget 2018 to be presented on July 5.

The details of the loan waiver were however not made public. Danish Ali of the JD(S) who is also part of the coordination committee said that the details would be made known when Chief Minister, H D Kumaraswamy presents the budget.

Ali further said that the loans taken from the nationalised and cooperative banks would be waived off. It may be recalled that the JD(S) in its manifesto had said that it would waive off farm loans to the tune of Rs 53,000 crore. Ali also said that a full budget would be presented.

The decision comes after days of disagreement between the two parties on farm loan waiver and also the presentation of a full budget. Former CM, Siddaramaiah who heads the coordination committee had spoken of the need of only an interim budget.