Bengaluru: In a spirited defence of the state budget in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, CM Siddaramaiah asserted it was all inclusive and not merely aimed at consolidating the Ahinda vote in the 2018 elections as alleged by the BJP.
Replying to the debate on the budget – later passed by a voice vote by the House even as the BJP staged a walkout - Mr Siddaramaiah said while he championed the Ahinda cause, he worked for the prosperity of the entire state.
“BJP members are trying to give the budget a caste and religious slant. While I have no hesitation in saying that I believe in the Ahinda cause and in social justice, I however, work for inclusive growth. The government’s programmes like Anna Bhagya, Ksheera Bhagya and so on, are for poor people from all walks of life. The benefits have reached 1.08 lakh families in the state and do you think they all belong to AHINDA?” he demanded.
Dodging the opposition demand for waiver of farm loans, he once again claimed the ball was in the Centre’s court. “All we have given is '22,000 crore through cooperative banks. But the Centre has given over one lakh crore as loans to farmers through private and commercial banks. I have written to the PM to waive this amount, to allow us to write off the cooperative sector loans. But the Centre is not ready to do this,” he said.
Comparing his government’s performance on developmental work with that of the previous BJP government in the state, he said it had spent Rs 84,000 crore on SC/STs, while the latter had spent only Rs 21,000 crore during its five-year tenure.
As for agriculture, his government had spent Rs 19,523 crore, while the BJP had spent Rs 7,338 crore. While claiming that neither he nor the Congress was against demonetisation, he said what they objected to was the manner in which it was done.
