With assembly elections round the corner, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah presented four-hour long Budget on Friday. This is Congress government’s last budget before the polls and Siddaramaiah’s 13th as Finance Minister. Siddaramaiah began his speech after the Supreme Court verdict on Cauvery water dispute.
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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.
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
