[1]Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda did manage to present his maiden Budget, even as the man out to oust him, B.S. Yeddyurappa, and his supporters watched in the Assembly on Wednesday. A 22 per cent salary hike for government employees, a Rs 1,000 crore sop for OBCs, interest-free farm loans, a one per cent cut in stamps and registration fees, and an additional levy on liquor were the highlights of what was clearly an ‘election budget’.
It was also the state’s first trillion-rupee expenditure budget, a ‘milestone’ that Mr Yeddyurappa was desperate to present. Mr Gowda kept sane counsel in not waving another red rag in front of Mr Yeddyurappa, keeping all the schemes the latter had announced during his term in office, even enhancing allocations and oversight of some of them, while not announcing any of his own.
He even flattered Mr Yeddyurappa by presenting an exclusive “agriculture budget” before the main budget. The sops and schemes announced assume significance because Mr Gowda may not be able to present a full budget next year, when elections to the Assembly are due.
“I chose to continue schemes initiated by the BJP government over the last three years. The benefit of those schemes can reach the needy only if they are treated as five-year programmes. This decision made the exercise stressful as we had to match schemes and allocations,” Mr Gowda said.
Desisting from announcing any new populist schemes, he said, “My intention is to take the existing schemes to the last man.” The trillion-rupee budget is premised on the rise in real estate activity last year which led to a 22 per cent spurt in collection of revenues through stamp duty and registration as well as a rise in excise revenues. Mr Gowda sought to encourage the trends — and a boom in building activity — by cutting stamp duty on conveyance/sale deeds from six percent to five per cent while upping tax on liquor to generate an additional Rs 1,000 crore revenue.
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