Bommai’s state budget likely on Feb 12 or 17; expect rain of freebies

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Given the possibility of Assembly elections being held in April-May this year, the BJP government led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is likely to present the state budget for the year 2023-24 on February 12 or 17.

The CM is expected to announce a bonanza of schemes for every section of society as well as for traditional voters of the saffron party in the budget. He has already given indications of presenting a populist budget in a bid to please all sections and return to power in the state.

According to sources, Bommai has been holding a series of consultations with officials of the Finance Department to keep a tab on the state’s financial health and to know about the funds available for freebies. The CM has released a bounty of grants for BJP MLAs’ constituencies to finance road and other works as part of basic infrastructure building besides providing special funds for community uplift programmes.

With not many new projects being announced, Bommai has tried to play ‘quota politics’ by hiking the percentage of reservation for major communities. The installation of Nada Prabhu Kempe Gowda staue near Bengaluru International Airport to woo the Vokkaligas and the hike in quota for the SCs/ STs, figure among the steps to woo these sections.