Govt to spend Rs 1.2 lakh crore on development in 2024-25, announces CM Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told the Legislative Assembly on Thursday that his government will spend Rs 1.2 lakh crore on development in the next fiscal as he sought to discredit the BJP’s view that the five guarantees have gobbled up funds. 

During his reply to the debate on the 2024-25 Budget, Siddaramaiah also chanted ‘Jai Sita Ram’ to ideologically counter the BJP. 

“The Opposition has said that there’s zero development. A sum of Rs 1.2 lakh crore has been earmarked for development programmes, which includes Rs 52,009 crore for the five guarantee schemes. The allegation made by the Opposition is far from the truth,” Siddaramaiah claimed. 

Siddaramaiah said the size of his 2024-25 budget is Rs 3.71 lakh crore. “This is Rs 62,000 crore more than the budget presented by (then CM) Basavaraj Bommai in February 2023. It is Rs 43,601 crore more than the budget presented by me in July 2023. The GDP of the state is expected to be Rs 28.09 lakh crore, up by Rs 2.41 lakh crore. Can budget size and GDP increase without development?” he asked. 

Siddaramaiah began his reply amid hollering and protests by the BJP MLAs who were in the well of the House against the government’s “failure” to arrest those who raised pro-Pakistan slogans in Vidhana Soudha. After the BJP staged a walkout, Siddaramaiah continued his reply and addressed the empty Opposition benches. 

At one point in time, the BJP members started shouting ‘Jai Sri Ram’. To this, Siddaramaiah said: “I say Jai Sita Ram! They (BJP) haven’t read the Ramayana or the Mahabharata. They’re separating Rama from Sita, from Lakshmana and Hanuman.”

When BJP lawmakers shouted ‘Modi, Modi’, Siddaramaiah raked up the financial “injustice” caused to Karnataka by the union government. “If we pay Rs 100 as tax, we get only Rs 12 in return from the Centre,” he said.

“There’s Karnataka’s share in the ‘Modi guarantee’. About 50-65% is our share. But the BJP is supporting injustice. Aren’t they cheating Kannadigas?” he said, adding that Karnataka must get at least 50% of what the union government gets from the state.