Siddaramaiah To Table 7th State Budget As Karnataka CM In Assembly Today At 12 Noon

Karnataka CM SIddaramaiah will on Friday present the state budget for the first time since Congress won polls in May 10 elections. This is Siddaramaiah's seventh budget as CM of the state.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah

Source : PTI

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is set to present the state budget today at 12 noon in the assembly, the first after Congress assumed power in the state following its sweeping victory in the May 10 assembly elections. Notably, this will be Siddaramaiah’s seventh Budget as a chief minister. He has already presented six budgets during his tenure as the state CM from 2013 to 2018. The ongoing assembly session has been witnessing massive unrest since its first day on a range of issues including the poll guarantees of the Congress party. Notably, Congress has already launched three of its five poll guarantees and sought time for implementation of other two.

On Thursday, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly was thrown into chaos as allegations and counter-allegations flew between the government and the Opposition over a bus driver-cum-conductor's suicide attempt. Former Chief Minister and BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai accused Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy of being responsible for the driver's desperate act, reported news agency PTI. Bommai called for an impartial investigation into the matter and demanded the minister's resignation, citing previous instances where resignations were tendered under similar circumstances.

The BJP leader cited the case of deputy superintendent of police M K Ganapathy, whose suicide in 2016 led to the resignation of then-Home Minister K J George, who was implicated in the officer's allegations. Bommai also highlighted the resignation of BJP minister K S Eshwarappa following a contractor's suicide and accusations of demanding commissions, the PTI report stated.

Former Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy slammed the Congress government over the incident as it occurred merely 50 days after it came to power. He pointed out a pattern of government officers and employees being threatened with removal or transfer, especially with the upcoming Panchayat elections in certain regions. Kumaraswamy revealed that the KSRTC employee's wife, a Panchayat member, had faced undue pressure, leading to her husband's drastic action. He alleged that the employee had accused Minister Chaluvarayaswamy of orchestrating his transfer, citing the 'suicide note' as evidence.

Earlier  on Wednesday, JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy showed mediapersons a pen drive, in which, he claimed, he had proof of the "Congress's transfer racket". He said that the pendrive contained the audio clip of the conversation of a minister, who had engaged in corruption.  He said that he will release the pen drive when the time comes. "I am carrying the evidence in my pocket. I can release it at any time. Without any proper information, I will not release anything. Everything on how a minister collected money for the posting of administrative officials is here," the former Karnataka Chief Minister said.