Bengaluru, Feb 16

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, set to present the BJP’s last budget ahead of Assembly elections, will be walking a tightrope to pull off a please-all budget, with opposition parties already making populist promises.

Bommai, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the budget on February 17. Political analysts expect a populist budget, with elections around the corner. 

In the run-up to state elections, opposition parties have already made promises. The Congress party, eyeing a return to power, has promised financial assistance of Rs 2,000 per month to homemakers under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme. It has also promised 200 units of free electricity to all households under the Gruha Jyoti scheme. 

The Chief Minister is also expected to go all out this time. Political analyst Sandeep Shastri said, “It will definitely be a please-all budget because it is just before the elections, and the principal segments that the party will try to reach out to are the poorer sections of the society and the middle-class. They would want to compete with the advantages and limitations that come with being a ruling party.”

However, promises made in the budget need not swing the vote as voters are clever enough to check if the government has fulfilled the promises it made previously, he added. 

Bommai has healthy coffers with tax collection being largely robust. The total funds expected from the Centre is more than Rs 52,281 crore, including devolution from the tax pool and grant-in-aid for centrally sponsored schemes. This is also going to be the first year after the Centre stopped GST compensation to states. 

Rajendra Chenni, a political analyst, said, “Bommai will go all out to make it a populist budget. Freebies and sops will be incorporated into the budget to make people vote. However, it is doubtful if they will be fulfilled further.” 

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