Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah to present budget on Feb 16 with eye on polls

With assembly elections round the corner, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah is busy preparing himself for the government's last budget. The budget will be presented on February 16. This will be his sixth budget of the Congress and Siddaramaiah's 13th as the Finance Minister.

The Cabinet has decided to hold the budget session from February 16 to 28 and which is also expected to woo the electorate. Last year, the Chief Minister had presented the budget on March 15.

Since the elections are likely to be held during the last week of April or May first week, the government will hardly have a few weeks to implement budget announcements.

However, this didn't go well with BJP's BS Yeddyurappa who was his predecessor. He told Siddaramaiah, who also holds the finance portfolio, that considering the Assembly elections are due in Karnataka in April-May this year, he cannot present a full Budget.

However, the chief minister rejected the BJP's objections, saying it's not against the principles of the Constitution to present a full Budget in an election year.

The BJP came to power on its own for the first time in 2008 but lost to the Congress after five years in the May 2013 assembly election.

OneIndia News