Yediyurappa to present Karnataka budget on Thursday

Bengaluru, March 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa will present the budget for fiscal 2020-21 in the Assembly on Thursday, an official said on Wednesday.

"Yediyurappa, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the budget for fiscal 2020-21 on Thursday. It will be his 7th budget and fifth as Chief Minister," the official told IANS here.

Though Yediyurappa assumed office again on July 26, 2019, he was compelled to re-present the budget for fiscal 2019-20 after JD-S-Congress coalition government collapsed on July 23 as its Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy lost the trust vote in the Assembly.

"As the assembly had to pass the budget by July 30, with Kumaraswamy presenting a vote-on-account in February 2019, Yediyurappa did not have time to make major changes in the budgetary proposals for this fiscal," the Finance Department official said.

The budget could have some of the promises the ruling party made in its manifesto ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections.

"The thrust of the budget will be on agriculture, irrigation, infrastructure, energy, education, health and development of Bengaluru and other cities to accelerate uniform growth," the official said.

With the Central government notifying the Mahadayi inter-state water tribunal award on February 27 following the Supreme Court's directive on February 20, Yediyurappa will allot funds to resume the Kalasa-Banduri project to supply drinking water to the four-drought prone districts in the state's north-west region.

"As revenue collection is expected to fall short of the budget estimates for this fiscal (2019-20) due to economic slowdown and reduction in transfer of central funds to the state as part of its share from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, Yediyurappa faces a daunting task in mobilising resources to fund his government's ambitious projects and schemes," a political analyst told IANS here.

Source: IANS