With 10 days remaining for Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to present the Budget, Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Pradesh Congress committee president G. Parameshwara met coalition co-ordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah, who is undergoing treatment, in Dharmasthala on Sunday and held consultations.
Mr. Parameshwara arrived at Mangaluru International Airport in the afternoon and later travelled to Dharmasthala. He visited Manjunatha Temple before meeting Mr. Siddaramaiah at Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheswara Yoga and Nature Cure Hospital late in the evening. The former Chief Minister is undergoing treatment at the hospital for a week now.
Interestingly, many local Congress leaders were unaware about Mr. Parameshwara’s ‘private visit’.
Speaking to presspersons after coming out of the temple at Dharmasthala, Mr. Parameshwara said that he could discuss anything with Mr. Siddaramaiah. “Why I should not discuss the issues with Mr. Siddaramaiah who is our leader,” he said.
Asked whether he had brought the list of probable nominees to head boards and corporations, Mr. Parameshwara said: “It is in my mind.”
He said that the old programmes announced by Mr. Siddaramaiah in 2018-19 Budget would continue.
To a question, Mr. Parameshwara said that he did not know whether Mr. Siddaramaiah was unhappy with Mr. Kumaraswamy going ahead with presenting the Budget. “When I spoke to him (Mr. Siddaramaiah), I did not sense anything of that sort.”
It may be noted that Mr. Siddaramaiah had earlier maintained that there was no need for a full-fledged Budget to be presented by the coalition government.
The Home Minister said that Mr. Kumarasway had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently and had requested the Union government to sanction ₹50,000 crore to the State to waive the loans of farmers.
Earlier, Mr. Siddaramaiah had waived farm loans to the tune of ₹8,165 crore.
Meanwhile, in a video on social media on Sunday, Mr. Siddaramaiah is heard saying that the Budget preparation was going on when the common minimum programme was yet to be prepared.
It showed him interacting with MLAs, S.T. Somashekar, Byrathi Basavaraj and Munirathna Naidu, at the hospital.
Mr. Siddaramaiah says that the Budget of the new government should have programmes announced by the Congress earlier.
