Bengaluru, 20 Feb

Strongly defending his government's guarantee schemes, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said there was nothing called "Siddanomics".

The Chief Minister said he and his government believed in "good economics", which means taxing the rich by law and spending the money on the poor for their uplift.

He also asserted that his government is working towards protecting the Constitution and making Karnataka "Sarva Janangada Shantiya Tota" (the peaceful garden of all communities) and alleged that the BJP believes in "Manuwad" and not the Constitution.

He was replying to the motion of thanks to the Governor's address to the joint sitting of Karnataka Legislature, in the Legislative Assembly.

Opposition BJP and JD(S) staged a walkout, alleging that the Chief Minister was making a political speech ahead of Lok Sabha polls, instead of replying to issues raised.

Through five guarantees the government has worked towards strengthening the poor and downtrodden socially and economically, he further said, "We have spent Rs 36,000 crore for five guarantees and I have set aside about Rs 52,000 crore in the budget for the next year."

Leader of Opposition R Ashoka and former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai took a swipe at Siddaramaiah, saying the Chief Minister should take "Siddanomics" as a compliment and consider it as a brand given to his economics.

Ashoka hit out on Siddaramaiah's government for failing to address crucial issues such as the cancellation of programmes such as Kisan Samman, Vidyanidhi, and scholarships initiated by former chief ministers Basavaraj Bommai and BS Yeddyurappa. He highlighted the reduction in scholarship amounts from Rs 50,000 to a mere Rs 1,200 and the government's silence on Budget cuts affecting irrigation and public works departments.

Comparing the Congress’ Budget to the surplus budgets of the previous BJP government, Ashoka criticised Rs 1.5 lakh crore borrowing under the present regime. He accused Siddaramaiah of plunging the state into debt.

Defending his government's policies and programmes, Siddaramaiah alleged that BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was "anti-poor, anti-farmer, anti-backwards class, anti-women, anti-minorities and anti-labourers".

Hitting back at Opposition over its accusation that Congress in the State had made the Governor utter lies in his customary address to both Houses of Legislature, Siddaramaiah said the former has spoken the truth.

He attacked BJP and Union government over alleged "injustice" to Karnataka in tax devolution, grants-in-aid, delay in drought relief and delay in clearance or approval for several mega development projects while highlighting the losses incurred by the State under the 15th Finance Commission. "Despite writing 17 letters over drought relief, only one received a reply saying 'your letter has been received'. To date not a single penny has come from the Central grant," he said.

Siddaramaiah said when he along with Ministers, Congress MLAs and MPs staged a protest in Delhi demanding that the injustice be set right, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Congress of trying to divide the country.