Karnataka Budget: BJP Walks Out, Says Budget Will Not Be Passed

As H D Kumaraswamy, the chief minister of Karnataka, presented the state budget for 2019-2020 fiscal year today, in his speech, he launched an attack on the opposition and the central government. He accused the central government of not allocating enough money for its share in the projects in the state.

Former CM Yeddyurappa and other MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided to walk out of the assembly as soon as the CM started presenting the budget.

The tension between the BJP and the Congress-JD(S) government in the state has worsened in the last two months. The BJP has been waiting to make the best of the internal tension within the coalition government: four to eight MLAs of the Congress and JD(S) are said to be in touch with the BJP, and some reports claim that these MLAs are not in support of the coalition government.

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This tension between the opposition and the government was visible when the BJP MLAs disrupted the proceedings of the first day of the Budget session, and the governor Vajubhai Vala had to stop his address mid-way. Following this, CM Kumaraswamy released an audio in which Yeddyurappa is allegedly in conversation with Sharangouda, the son of Naganagouda Kandakur, the MLA of JD(S), and is asking him to persuade his father to join the BJP. In the audio, the person – supposedly Yeddyurappa – is heard saying, “We have even booked the speaker by paying him Rs. 50 crore. BJP National President Amit Shah has even booked the Supreme Court Judges.”

The BJP, however, also released an audio of Kumaraswamy speaking to Bijapur MLA Vijay Gowda Patil and his supporters.

After these audios were released, the parties were seen to be clashing with each other. The BJP continued to threaten the government, and said that its second budget would not be passed.

Speaker Ramesh Kumar heard the three-hour-long budget speech of the CM, and adjourned the house until Monday to discuss the proposed budget.

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Budget 2019-2020

The CM noted that the current budget aims for development based on Gandhi’s principles and the ideals set by the poets of the state like D R Bendre, Chennaveera Kanavi and Sarvagna. He added that the budget is in the interest of farmers, unemployed and the vulnerable sections of the society.

In its first budget in July 2018, this government had announced a farm loan waiver scheme. This loan waiver scheme, however, proposed to waive loans in phases. In the newly launched scheme, however, the CM has announced waivers amounting to Rs 34,000 crore, while the total farm loans amount to around Rs 1.20 lakh crore.

The government will reimburse Rs 10,500 crore to banks for the loan waiver this year, and will be generating funds for the rest of the amount through an increase in taxes on fuel, electricity, motor vehicles and alcohol, as announced in the budget. In the second phase, an incentive of Rs 25,000 would be distributed to the 27.67 lakh farmers who repaid their loans on time ‘to prevent complaints that only defaulters have benefited’. In the current budget, the CM has said, the scheme would be continued.

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Apart from various schemes for the farmers, the budget also promised loans for street vendors, women farmers and other women. Money was also allocated for various religious organisations of religious minority communities. The detailed budget talks about various measures that the government will take up to ensure a proper usage of Cauvery water, increased tax on alcohol, facilities for women working in garment industries.