Karnataka Budget: CM Yediyurappa to rename populist schemes, axe farm loan waiver

Bengaluru, Mar 02: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa is all set to axe farm loan waiver that was started by his predecessor HD Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah.

If sources are said to be believed, the Karnataka Budget, that is scheduled to be held on Thursday, will witness significant changes in the BJP government's budget.

According to reports, it is said that Yediyurappa is likely to announce Rs 1,500 crore scheme as incentives to the farm sector. This comes after taking state's poor financial condition into consideration.

Speaking to a media organisation, food and civil supplies minister K Gopalaiah said that many schemes are under the scanner. However, by scrapping Anna Bhagya scheme, the Chief Minister would receive severe backlash. Instead, Yediyurappa is likely to reduce the quantity of rice from 7 kg to 5 kg a month.

It is allegedly said that Yediyurappa is also having an eye on renaming "Airavatha", a scheme that is helpful to dalit youth to own a taxi and partner with app-based aggregators, as "Ambari".

Reacting to this development by the state government, former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy said, "I have no objection if Yediyurappa wants to leave his stamp on the budget. My worry is that on government's conspiracy to divert funds that are meant for the welfare of the farmer," TOI quoted Kumaraswamy as saying.

With these developments in the state, one can only wait till Thursday to see if Yediyurappa's renaming and scrapping of schemes would benefit the peeple of Karnataka, or not.