Karnataka CM presents annual state budget despite oppn's protest and walkout

Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Friday presented the state budget for fiscal 2019-20 despite protest and walkout by the opposition BJP members from the Assembly here. Unfazed by the Bharatiya Janata Party's ruckus over the continuation of his eight-month-old JD-S-Congress coalition, Kumaraswamy read the budget proposals in Kannada after Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar permitted.

Ignoring the protests, Kumaraswamy continued reading the budget speech, as BJP members led by their leader B.S.Y. Yeddyurappa walked out of the House. "We are boycotting the state budget as the coalition government has no moral right to present it and has lost majority in the House due to revolt within the Congress," a BJP official told IANS here. Following the practice in the Lok Sabha, copies of the state budget were not distributed to the members either in Kannada or English till Kumaraswamy completed the budget speech.