‘Neglecting minorities in state Budget is not a good sign’
Former minister HK Patil writes to leaders
Bengaluru, July 06: Former minister and senior Congress leader HK Patil said that no particular programme was announced in the budget for the welfare of the minority community which is instrumental in electing the secular parties in the 2018 election, and it was not fair.
Patil expressed his displeasure in a letter written to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwar, state Congress incharge KC Venugopal and Housing Minister DK Shivakumar.
The budget should have had special programmes for the minority community and the poor in that community. Along with the programmes announced in the last budget, the Chief Minister should have announced some programmes for the welfare of the minorities in this budget keeping in mind the changed political scenario, he said.
Patil also urged the Chief Minister and others to announce a few programmes during the debate on the Budget before approving it and compensate the lacking. People of north Karnataka had their own expectations on the budget. In the previous government, several new taluks were announced and most of them were in north Karnataka. People were expecting that this budget would have a special programme to provide basic infrastructure to all those new taluks. But their expectations were not fulfilled, he said.
Regarding north Karnataka, the programmes announced in the last budget were once again repeated in this budget and no new programmes which can respond and fulfill the needs of the people of north Karnataka were announced in the budget of the coalition government, he averred.
This budget hurt the feelings and expectations of north Karnataka people. It was the duty of the coalition government to respect the feelings of those people. In view of this, the Chief Minister should announce special programmes in his answer before approving the Budget in order to alleviate the regional imbalance to ensure justice to north Karnataka, he demanded.
Convene coordination committee meeting
The Congress governments between 1999 and 2004, Congress-JDS government between 2004 and 2006 and in Congress government between 2013 and 2018, had tried to alleviate the regional imbalance through various programmes. It was better to announce some special programmes to develop the north Karnataka. It should be discussed in an emergency meeting of the coordination committee and find solutions, Patil appealed Coordination Committee chairman Siddaramaiah in his letter.
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J&K polls: Amit Shah arrives in Jammu ahead of Saturday's hectic campaigning
Jammu (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Jammu on Friday night ahead of the hectic day-long campaigning on Saturday during which he will address five public rallies in three districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
Shah arrived here from Delhi and drove straight to the State Guest house, a senior BJP leader said.
Shah will fly to Poonch early tomorrow morning and address the first of four rallies in Mendhar followed by Surankote in Poonch district, he added.
Shah is scheduled to address rallies in Thanamandi and Rajouri followed by Akhnoor in Jammu.
He is also expected to hold a rally in the Nowshera constituency in support of Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina on Sunday.
