Karnataka CM may announce plans to raise extra resources in budget

Siddaramaiah devoted considerable amount of time in pre-budget talks

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah may announce plans to raise additional resources as he presents the Congress government's "fresh budget" on Friday.

Siddaramaiah, who has presented as many as seven budgets while serving as Finance Minister in the J H Patel and Dharam Singh governments, devoted considerable amount of time in pre-budget consultations in the past few days to give shape to government's policies and priorities.

The Chief Minister, who has kept the Finance portfolio with himself, is said to have weighed several options, including raising road tax on four-wheelers, generating funds by regularising constructions which violated building norms and increasing guidance value of land. The government has the imperative to marshal additional resources to fund subsidy schemes. The state today launched 'Anna Bhagya Yojane', which would give BPL card holders entitlement of 30 kg of rice at Re one every month, at an estimated expenditure of Rs 4,200 crore in the current fiscal.

The previous BJP government had presented the 2013-2014 budget and taken a vote of account for the expenditure to be incurred for four months ending July 31 this year. There would be thrust on agriculture but there would not be a separate agricultural budget, a practice seen during the BJP rule. Both Houses of the State Legislature are slated to have sessions from July 12 to July 31. Meanwhile, there is a move in the Congress to form a coordination committee between government and the party to resolve "contentious issues".

Some in the Congress saw it as one aimed at "clipping the wings" of the Chief Minister, who has been accused by a section of the party of taking "unilateral decisions".