Sop opera amid chaos

BENGALURU: Call it a build-up to the Lok Sabha elections or an attempt to compete with the Centre’s populist budget, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Friday presented a budget with an aim to woo every section and sector.

While his focus remained agriculture and social welfare, the CM reached out to almost all sections of society while doling out goodies. Emerging unscathed from a political crisis that he deftly manoeuvred to his advantage, Kumaraswamy used every opportunity to take jibes at the Modi government, setting the tone for the Congress-JD(S) coalition’s electoral fight against the BJP.

Much like his last budget, Kumaraswamy filled his budget for 2019-20 with pro-farmer measures. While he announced new schemes and a plan to extend low-interest gold loans to women farmers, he also introduced special packages for grape, pomegranate, mango, tomato, onion and potato growers. The state is also considering a new crop insurance scheme to counter the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.

The CM has gone great lengths to woo caste, community and religious groups with generous grants and schemes. In a first, Rs 110 crore has been allocated to 38 religious mutts and community associations. Bengaluru has been allocated Rs 2,300 crore in 2019-20 for modernisation apart from hundreds of crores for infrastructure development. While the budget introduced an additional incentive of Rs 1 to milk producers, it levied additional tax on beer.

Speaking to media, the Chief Minister lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The Prime Minister, speaking in Parliament, lied about our farm loan waiver and the number of people benefiting out of it. He blatantly misled the people,” Kumaraswamy said. “This is not an election budget. Our focus is development, farmers, infrastructure and the youth,” he said.

The budget has allocated Rs 25 crore each for developing two villages in Ramanagara district where Siddaganga Mutt seer Late Shivakumara Swamiji and Adichunchanagiri Samsthana’s Late Balagangadhara Swamiji were born. “The money has been allocated as a mark of respect for the huge contribution of Shivakumara Swamiji to society,” he said.

Kumaraswamy has set aside Rs 6,500 crore and Rs 6,150 crore for paying off crop loans from commercial banks and cooperative banks respectively. The budget speech was filled with innuendos mocking the Union government for refusing to extend a helping hand for the farm loan waiver scheme.
Even though he didn’t spell out any new major irrigation projects, a considerable portion of the budget was dedicated to lake rejuvenation, barrage construction and water connectivity.