Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah blamed the BJP government at the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the price rise in India that has hit the poor and the middle class.
Replying to the debate on the State budget in the Legislative Council on July 21, the Chief Minister said the economic policies adopted by Mr. Modi are mainly responsible for the price rise, and lives of people are becoming tough due to the impact of price rise.
“What is even worse is that money that has been taken away from the pockets of poor people is being given to the rich and corporates,” he alleged. He explained that Corporate Tax had been reduced from 30% to 22% by the Narendra Modi regime, which resulted in loss of revenue amounting to ₹2 lakh crore per annum for the Centre.
Attributing a direct link between price rise and the prices of petroleum fuel as well as cooking gas, he said the Modi regime had increased the cost of petroleum fuel sharply, though there is a steep reduction in prices of crude oil in the international market. Similarly, the price of cooking gas had gone up due to removal of subsidy, he said, and alleged that such measures had not only triggered an overall rise in prices, but also increased the financial burden on poor people.
Accusing the earlier BJP dispensation of maladministration and corruption, he alleged, “In reality, it was not a double-engine government, but a trouble-engine government for people of Karnataka.”
Pointing out that ₹52,068 crore is needed to implement all the five guarantees in a full year, he said it would cost only ₹35,410 crore to implement them in the remaining eight to nine months of this year. The necessary resources were being raised through efficient tax collection system, plugging pilferage through prioritisation and rationalisation of schemes, he said.
The Council gave its approval for the State budget by adopting the Karnataka Appropriation Bill.
