Premium

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah to present record 16th budget on March 7

Karnataka Governor to address both Houses of the state legislature on March 3.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. (Photo: Siddaramaiah/ X)

Come March 7, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will present a record 16th budget in the state Legislative Assembly. It will be his eighth budget presented as chief minister, having presented eight others in his capacity as finance minister of the state.

Siddaramaiah Monday said the budget will be presented following the Governor’s address to both Houses of the state legislature on March 3. Discussions will be held on the address for the next three days, following which the chief minister will present his budget. “I will reply to the budget discussions at the end of March,” Siddaramaiah said, adding that the Business Advisory Council will take a call on the number of days for which the budget session will be held.

He was speaking after holding discussions with representatives from various farmer organisations at Vidhana Soudha as part of the pre-budget consultations.

Siddaramaiah had presented eight budgets under different governments after being handed the Finance portfolio for the first time in 1994 in the Janata Dal government. Prior to his becoming chief minister in 2013, Siddaramaiah had presented his last budget in 2005 during the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. Second among Karnataka chief ministers in terms of budgets presented is Ramakrishna Hegde.

Last February, Siddaramaiah had presented a budget with an outlay of Rs 3.71 lakh crore, of which around Rs 52,000 crore was set aside for the five flagship guarantee schemes of the Congress government. The next budget, considering a modest upward revision of around 10 per cent, is expected to have an outlay of Rs four lakh crore, said sources.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram