Bengaluru (Karnataka) : Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will present his 14th budget in the Karnataka Assembly at 12 noon today with a responsibility to allocate funds for five guarantees with which the Congress rode to power in the May 10 elections. A budget of around Rs 3.30 lakh crores will be presented, most of which will be focused on guarantees, sources said.
CM Siddaramaiah will present the budget for 9 months for which, for the past 25 days, he has held a series of department-wise pre-budget meetings. His allocations may be mostly limited to redistribution of the budget which is already presented by the previous Bommai government, without any heavy tax burden. About Rs 60,000 crores is needed for the implementation of five guarantees, according to experts.
An estimated Rs 30,000 crore will have to be spent on five guarantees this financial year itself. It is said that Siddaramaiah will present a savings budget. BJP government presented Rs 3,09,182 crores budget in February. Now CM Siddaramaiah is all set to present a new budget of for Rs 3.30 lakh crores. As such, approximately Rs 25,000 crore surplus budget will be presented compared to Bommai government.
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Speculation is rife whether CM Siddaramaiah will go for additional borrowings to mop up funds for five promises. It means more debt in his budget. In the budget of 2023-24 presented by the previous government, it had said that it would borrow approximately Rs 77,750 crores. Finance department sources have said that it is doubtful that CM Siddaramaiah will seek more loans in the new budget of 9 months. Even if more loans are sought total can be estimated as Rs 80,000 crore.
As five guarantees are the highlight of CM Siddaramaiah's budget, the announcement of new projects in his budget is highly unlikely. There is a suspicion that CM Siddaramaiah may cut funds for some existing schemes to arrange funds for the five guarantees. However, pro-farmer programmes and Vidyanidhi scheme are likely to continue.
What are Siddaramaiah's budget expectations?
- Budget should meet aspirations of all sections
- Benefits for farmers, labourers, industrialists, weavers, sericulture growers
- Schemes for women, children, youth, young women, senior citizens
- Grants to Indira Canteen
- More grant to minority department
- More grants for drought management, drinking water schemes
- More allocation to Bengaluru infrastructure
- Grants for irrigation schemes
