Promises & projects: Can H D Kumaraswamy complete them in 8 months?

Bengaluru: Two budgets and all those ambitious projects to accommodate in a single year’s revenue. That sums up the ‘tight’ situation Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy might have found himself in when he rose to present his maiden budget on Thursday. Former CM Siddaramaiah had presented a budget before the state went to polls, in February this year announcing several populist schemes. This also explains why the CM who handles the finance portfolio, has gone on a taxation spree to raise resources wherever it is possible by levying tax on petroleum products and also hiking the usually taxed products like liquor and cigarettes to make sure he has the moolah for his loan waiver scheme.

Besides, he has heavily taxed motor vehicles and made an attempt to raise revenue by levying tax on consumption of electricity. In a nutshell, the political compulsions of the JD(S)-Congress coalition  will force people to shell out more as the rise in petroleum product prices will have a ripple-effect on prices of goods and services. The coalition leaders will be hoping voters forget the additional burden when parliament polls are due. Mr Kumaraswamy also took a risk of waiving farm loans amounting to Rs 34,000 crore which might pose a big challenge to him in future. He claimed that he would make up for the deficit by bringing in austerity measures besides raising funds through markets.

The first mechanism has never paid dividends as it is impossible to raise massive funds needed for  a loan waiver by imposing austerity measures. Considering the buoyancy in the market, a state like Karnataka can borrow loans but the effectiveness of programme implementation will be a big worry for him. It was Mr Siddaramaiah who had started the ‘politics of care’ pampering certain sections by launching programmes like Anna Bhagya, allocating funds for SC and ST development corresponding to their population and launching schemes like Indira Canteen, which cannot be discontinued because of the understanding between the two coalition partners. Barring a few programmes, Mr Kumaraswamy too has wasted an opportunity to emerge as a CM of all sections by announcing funds for caste-based groups and organisations. 

Two, his over concentration on Hassan, Mandya and Ramanagara might help him in the Lok Sabha elections but will leave people from coastal and north Karnataka fuming because of the raw deal meted out to them. His budget, as pointed out by Union minister, Ananth Kumar, also did not speak of strengthening the Lokayukta by scrapping the ACB. 

As many Congress legislators wondered immediately after the presentation of the budget, can Mr Kumaraswamy implement all these programmes in the next eight months? The JD(S) leader who was soft towards the BJP during the election campaign, trained his guns on PM,Narendra Modi and the BJP which is understandable considering the changed political equations in the state with two rival parties joining hands to form a coalition. But it would be a good thing if he revisited his speeches during the election campaign to find answer to the queries of the media on what he then promised on development of the state and what he actually doled out.