Describing the Union Budget as “anti-poor, anti-rural and anti-growth,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had thrown away a good opportunity provided by various factors, including the reduction in inflation, to present a growth-oriented budget.
“The present scenario, which indicated that the country’s economy is on the path to recovery owing to reduction in inflation mainly due to the fall in prices of oil in the international market, had provided a good opportunity after a long time to present a growth-oriented budget. But Mr. Jaitley failed to make use of this opportunity,” said Mr. Siddaramaiah, who also holds the Finance portfolio.
While priority sectors such as agriculture and education had been neglected and people’s hope of a raise in the income tax exemption limit had not been fulfilled, the budget tried to help corporates by reducing corporate tax, he said. He alleged that the Centre appeared to be “pro-corporate”.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said he expected Mr. Jaitley to give importance to agriculture, rural development and education. “There is nothing great about this. Flowery language has been used to describe things rather than pronouncing concrete measures and schemes,” he said.
The Chief Minister, however, welcomed the announcement of sanctioning an Indian Institute of Technology in Karnataka, besides developing the World Heritage Site of Hampi.
Anti-poor and anti-farmer. Except for an IIT, Karnataka has not benefitted. Tax reduction to corporate sector and hike in service tax testifies the fact that NDA government is pro-rich
G. Parameshwara,president, KPCC
Pro-corporate and anti-poor. Tax reduction to corporate sector testifies NDA government’s
anti-farmer mindset
H.D. Kumaraswamy,president, State unit of Janata Dal (Secular)
Karnataka has received special focus with proposal to establish IIT and improve facilities at Hampi. Tourists’ arrival to the State and specifically to Bengaluru will increase due to the visa on arrival facility
Ananth Kumar,Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers
