Trying to corner Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has urged him not to stop any major schemes for want of funds in the process of implementing the pre-poll ‘guarantees’ of the Congress. He also demanded that the Chief Minister place details about the linking of resources for the guarantees and other prominent schemes before people.
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In a letter to the Chief Minister, Mr. Bommai said that Mr. Siddaramaiah himself had indicated that implementation of all the guarantees would require about ₹50,000 crore. People of the State wanted the government to take precautions and also ensure that the interests of farmers and oppressed sections besides crucial sectors of education, health, women’s development, and infrastructure were not compromised while implementing the guarantees, he said.
He listed a slew of schemes, including the additional grant of ₹1,500 crore for the revolving fund towards agricultural market intervention, zero per cent interest on farm loans upto ₹5 lakh, and Viveka scheme of building new classrooms as the important ones for which the budgetary grants should not be reduced while implementing the guarantees.
He urged the Chief Minister to desist from transferring the burden of implementing the guarantees on people by increasing taxes.