BENGALURU: A day after expressing ire about neglect of north Karnataka in budget proposals presented by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, former minister and senior Congress leader, H.K. Patil, demanded an immediate meeting of the co-ordination committee to discuss issues which could cost his party dear in future. On Friday, Mr Patil wrote identical letters to party general secretary K C Venugopal and former chief minister Siddaramaiah, listing how lack of new schemes for north Karnataka and for uplift of minorities would send a wrong signal to supporters of Congress.
His letter pointed out how minorities, who unitedly backed the party during recent polls to the Legislative Assembly, were given a miss by Mr Kumaraswamy. Similarly, the budget had ignored the fact that the previous government had announced formation of new taluks , and which would require adequate infrastructure. “Immediately a meeting of co-ordination committee be convened to discuss these issues so that solutions can be worked out," he said in the letter. Mr Patil wrote a separate letter to Mr Kumaraswamy. First, he showered praises on the coalition government and the Chief Minister for waiver of farm loans of Rs 34,000 crores, a move which would go a long way in mitigating problems plaguing farmers. "Such a revolutionary step will help farmers across the state," he added.
The former minister, however, raised the issue of neglect of minorities though they had supported secular forces in Assembly elections. "Therefore for the welfare of minorites some new programmes should have been announced. The last budget presented in March this year had some programmes for minorities. In the changed political circumstances it was important to announce some new rogrammes which should have happened." On the question of neglect of north Karnataka, he said the previous government had announced the creation of some new taluks.
In the last budget, some programmes were proposed. However, majority of the proposed new taluks would come up in north Karnataka. But the new taluks need creation of infrastructure but no budgetary allocation was announced. “Therefore, I would like to urge you to make announcements on this issue during your reply to the debate on budget proposals," he added. In his reply, Mr Kumaraswamy said: “I am ready for an open debate on allocation of funds made for north Karnataka. When compared with the previous budget, the allocation has increased by Rs 250 crores in proposals presented in my budget. So I do not see injustice meted out to the region.”
