The Chief Minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy has expressed his displeasure over the new budget proposed by Nirmala Sitharaman in her first stint as the Finance Minister.
CM Kumaraswamy slammed the finance minister on Twitter for reducing Karnataka's share in Goods and Service Tax (GST) by Rs 1,600 crore. "This budget has given a big blow to the state's economy by reducing GST state share. For Karnataka, it will be cut down by around Rs.1600 crore. Cess hike on fuel will also reduce the scope for states to levy cess. Moreover, the fuel price hike will hit everyone directly & indirectly as well," tweeted HDK from his official handle.
The CM said that he had great expectations from the Nirmala Sitharaman who represents Karnataka for railways. He said that he is very disappointed as no projects were announced regarding this. "Though creation of Farmers Producer Organisation (FPOs) and strengthening e-NAM (online trading platform for agricultural commodities in India) and promoting traditional industries are welcome moves, more morale-boosting programmes were desirable for the farming sector," the tweet read.
"In the Indian Context budget is not a mere statement of intent," said Kumaraswamy. Kumaraswamy said that though a budget speech was the most important medium for communicating with the poor, but, the finance ministers speech had certain intents, nothing beyond them.
The Deputy CM G Parameshwara also criticised the 2019 budget. He said "the budget size is barely Rs 3 lakh crore more than the last budget. No importance has been laid on agriculture. No new schemes for farmers, not even a mention of farm loan waiver. Rural employment guarantee scheme has not been allocated enough funds. Barely Rs 60,000 crore has been set aside but Rs 12,000 crore payments from last year are still pending," reports The New Indian Express.
The Congress workers in Bengaluru held a protest against the hike in fuel prices and other issues on Saturday. The protestors claimed that the increased price hike is a burden for all people.
