The Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) on Tuesday urged the Election Commission of India and Governor H.R. Bhardwaj to stop Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar from presenting a full-fledged State Budget for the entire financial year of 2013-14 as the term of the present Assembly would end in May.
Addressing a press conference in Bangalore, KJP leader V. Dhananjaya Kumar demanded that Mr. Shettar seek a vote on account for three months — April to June — instead of opting for a full-fledged budget for the entire year.
Campaign
He warned that the KJP would launch a public campaign against the Bharatiya Janata Party if the Chief Minister went ahead with a full-fledged budget.
Mr. Kumar was then faced with a barrage of questions on the inconsistencies of the KJP.
On the one hand, the party said the Shettar government would not survive to present the budget and on the other it wanted the Chief Minister to present the budget only for three months.
Describing the BJP as a sinking ship, he claimed that a substantial number of MLAs from the party were set to join the KJP and the Congress. Predicting that the BJP government was set to fall soon, he said it was better for Mr. Shettar to pack his bags instead of preparing the budget.
‘Hoodwinking Shettar’
Commenting on the BJP’s decision to go to the Assembly polls under Shettar’s leadership, Mr. Kumar alleged that the party was trying to make Mr. Shettar a “scapegoat”. He said: “The BJP leadership, especially its national general secretary Ananth Kumar, knows well that the party will not return to power. They are cleverly trying to avoid the blame for failure by hoodwinking Mr. Shettar to take the blame.”
Mr. Kumar said the KJP would finalise its list of candidates for about 100 seats by the end of the month.
