Bengaluru: Stung by opposition criticism that this was a “Hassan, Mandya and Ramanagar” budget, CM H.D. Kumaraswamy lashed out at the BJP and PM Narendra Modi. Defending his decision to raise petrol and diesel price, Mr Kumaraswamy said that the Centre had increased cess on petrol and diesel nine times since 2014, increasing the cess by over 200% from Rs 9.20 per litre to Rs 19.48 per litre on petrol and from Rs 3.46 per litre on diesel to Rs 15.33 per litre on diesel. At the same time, the State government had reduced cess eight times, he said.
Taking a dig at former Bengaluru in charge minister R. Ashok, who said that there was nothing for Bengaluru in the budget, Mr Kumaraswamy said that the government was spending over Rs 15,000 crore in the next two years to construct elevated corridors across Bengaluru city. “These corridors from North-South, East-West and peripheral were planned when I was chief minister. Mr Ashok became Bengaluru in-charge after that. What did he do about this? I am starting the project again for easing traffic congestion in Bengaluru,” he said.
