BANGALORE: The last budget of BJP's first government in the south, before it goes for assembly polls in April-May, is full of promises and scores of populist announcements.
With focus on "aam admi" chief minister Jagdish Shettar presented his budget on Friday, amidst threat by former chief minister and Lingayat strongman BS Yeddyurappa to topple the government.
The budget, with the total expenditure of Rs 1.17 lakh crore, does not announce any new tax proposals.
Heeding to the long-pending demand of the people, Shettar, who also holds the finance portfolio, announced creation of 43 new taluks.
Continuing with the tradition of Yeddyurappa, the chief minister has earmarked nearly Rs 150 crore for various caste-based mutts in the state, particularly the Lingayat run institutions. Lingayats, considered as strong patrons of BJP and responsible for bringing the party to power in 2008, have been taken care of by the govt.
Keeping "common man" in mind, the budget promises to exempt tax on footwear costing up to Rs 200 per pair. Tax on doors and window frames and door and window shutters have been reduced from 14.5% to 5.5%. The govt also promises to set up one cyber cafe in every village.
The BJP government has given huge weightage to Bangalore city's infrastructure development by announcing new infrastructure projects worth over Rs 7,000 crore.
With Bangalore having 28 assembly segments, highest in the state, the budget assures to provide Rs 750 crore financial assistance to the BBMP for undertaking 75 major infrastructure development projects under its jurisdiction. "Highest priority would be given for solid waste management. An exclusive agency for waste management will be set up," Shettar said.
The BJP has gifted loads of schemes to the coastal belt of the state, its strong bastion. A drinking water scheme "Soubhagya Sanjeevini" focusing on three districts - Uttara Kannada, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada - will be taken up at a cost of Rs 10 crore. Perhaps, to silence his bete noire Shobha Karandlaje, Shettar announced another drinking water project for 2,106 fluoride affected villages at a cost of Rs 1,500 crore.
Trying to corner Congress's trump card of giving special status to Hyderabad-Karnataka region, Shettar in the last budget has announced to create a special cell at a cost of Rs 3,114 crore to implement and supervise constitutional amendment activities to six backward districts - Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Koppal, Yadgir and Bellary.
It is no secret that Yeddyurappa tried hard to stop Shettar from presenting the budget thinking the chief minister would become popular when elections are round the corner.
For this, Yeddyurappa ensured that 13 BJP MLAs resigned, but failed to impress further more MLAs.
Jagadish Shettar presents populist budget for poll-bound Karnataka
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Jagadish Shettar presents populist budget for poll-bound Karnataka
