Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah slams BJP for calling his budget 'Halal'
Bengaluru, Mar 7 (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday slammed the opposition BJP for calling the state budget a 'Halal Budget' and 'Pakistan Budget'.
The BJP termed it "appeasement" and the CM said the saffron party's statement was a reflection of their "rotten mindset".
In a post on ‘X’ with a photograph of Siddaramaiah in skull cap, the BJP said: "Scam CM @siddaramaiah in Karnataka presents a Halal Budget—appeasement at its peak!"
Addressing reporters after presenting his 16th budget, the chief minister said minorities do not mean Muslims only, but there are Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs and Christians in that category.
He also clarified that Rs 250 crore has been earmarked for Christians as well.
"The size of the budget is Rs 4.09 lakh crore and if we give Rs 4,500 crore to the minorities, the BJP calls it ‘Halal Budget’. Their statement shows their rotten mindset," Siddaramaiah said.
When a reporter asked him about the allocation for the Other Backward Castes, who constitute 56 per cent of the population, Siddaramaiah said Rs 4,300 crore has been earmarked for them. Along with that Rs 42,018 crore has been reserved for the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan (SCSP-TSP), he said.
"We have made huge allocations for SCSP-TSP. Let the BJP, which ruled the Centre for 17 years, show that the Centre or the BJP ruled states have formulated SCSP-TSP provisions," the CM said.
He charged that the BJP leaders in Karnataka lack the courage to ask the Centre to replicate the way Karnataka has introduced SCSP-TSP. "But they do come to tell us that we are giving money to the Muslims. What moral rights they have to question us?" the chief minister sought to know.
He said the BJP had displayed its disrespect for secularism by calling the Karnataka budget a 'Halal Budget' and 'Pakistan Budget'. "This is a country of all the communities, which the BJP should know," Siddaramaiah said.
The chief minister said the budget he presented has far-sightedness and gives an equality, social and economic growth oriented budget. We follow the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act.
He said the size of the budget in 2024-25 was Rs 3.71 lakh crore budget, which has gone up to Rs 4,09,549 crore – an increase of Rs 38,166 crore. The growth rate of the budget is 10.3 per cent.
"This year (2024-25) the borrowings were Rs 1,05,246 crore, but next year's borrowing will be Rs 1,16,000 crore, which means we are borrowing Rs 10,000 crore," he pointed out.
The chief minister explained that, as per the FRBM Act, borrowing should be less than 25 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for a strong fiscal health.
"Karnataka’s borrowings are at 24.91 per cent. We are well within provisions of the FRBM Act. Financial deficit should not be more than three per cent as per FRBMA. We are at 2.95 per cent," Siddaramaiah said.
He said there are three parameters to gauge fiscal discipline – first, the state should be revenue surplus, fiscal deficit should not be more than three per cent, and the third is that borrowings of the state should not be more than 25 per cent of the GSDP.
"We are following the fiscal discipline and we are offering programmes for poor, women, weaker section, minorities, workers and farmers," Siddaramaiah said.
"We are financially strong, we are following the financial discipline and we are as per the provisions of the FRBM Act. Also, we have also kept the promises we made," Siddaramaiah said.
The chief minister also said that in 2024-25, the state had earmarked Rs 52,009 crore for the five guarantees, but in the next fiscal Rs 51,034 crore has been allocated.
"We reserved less money for the guarantees compared to previous year because we were paying cash to the beneficiaries of the Anna Bhagya guarantee at Rs 34 per kg every month in place of food grains, but this year we got rice from FCI at Rs 22 per kg," he explained.
The five guarantees were the key pre-poll promises of the Congress government. They are ‘Gruha Jyothi’ offering 200 units electricity free to every household, ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme promising Rs 2,000 to every woman head of a family and ‘Anna Bhagya’ offering 10 kg rice to every member of the BPL family a month.
The 'Yuva Nidhi' promises Rs 3,000 dole to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders for two years (in the 18-25 age-group) and ‘Shakti’ scheme permits free travel for Karnataka women to travel within the state in government non-luxury buses.
Siddaramaiah said, "The BJP has said that the state would go bankrupt by implementing the five guarantees. Has it happened? Do they know the meaning of bankruptcy?”
He said the BJP is now replicating the Karnataka model of guarantees in Delhi, Haryana, MP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
According to the chief minister, the annual expenditure on the guarantees per constituency is Rs 232 crore on an average.
"Isn’t a development if people are given money? Won’t it spur economic activities if the purchasing capacity of people increases?” he argued.
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Four arrested for abduction of 19-yr-old college student; Rs 50,000 ransom bid foiled in Bengaluru
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Bengaluru (PTI): Four people, former and senior students of the same college, were arrested for allegedly abducting a 19-year-old from his hostel in the city and later demanding a ransom of Rs 50,000 for his release, police said on Monday.
The victim, a first-year BBM student, was abducted by the accused on April 11 at around 7.50 pm near his hostel in BTM Layout, they said.
However, the Madiwala police foiled the plan within four hours and rescued the kidnapped student, a native of Odisha, police said.
Of those arrested, two were former students of the same college, while the remaining two were current senior students there.
The matter came to light on the night of April 11 when information was received from a student stating that another student had been kidnapped near the college hostel in BTM Layout.
According to police, the victim was forcibly taken away in a car and held in an old house in Jayanagar on Saturday night. The accused allegedly threatened him with a knife and a fake pistol and demanded that he transfer Rs 50,000 via UPI, failing which he would be killed.
They also contacted his friends and family seeking money.
Acting swiftly, Namma 112 personnel immediately relayed the information to Madiwala police officials. Based on this information, a case was registered, and an investigation was initiated.
“Within five hours of the incident, the police, using technical surveillance, successfully rescued the kidnapped student and apprehended the accused. Further investigation is in progress,” a senior police officer said.
All the accused are aged between 19 and 23 years. One of them used his father’s car to carry out the abduction, while another former student, who had passed out from the same college, joined the group in taking the victim to the house in Jayanagar, which belonged to another accused.
Police said some money was transferred to the suspects to ensure they did not harm the victim.
Police suspect the accused are habitual offenders and are investigating their possible involvement in similar cases in the past. One of the accused was also previously involved in an extortion case, they added.
The accused were remanded to judicial custody, police said, adding that further investigation is underway.
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