Murugesh Nirani gifts Yeddy Rs 1-crore SUV to tour drought-hit areas

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 7: Making a scathing attack on the Central government, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac on Friday said the BJP-led NDA government was "strangulating" the southern state by denying funds.

Presenting the 2020-21 budget of the Pinarayi Vijayan led-LDF government, he alleged the centre has been "helping" corporates rather that the common man.

"The Centre has been strangulating Kerala by denying funds for the state and has been moving on a self-destructive path by corporate-friendly policies and privatisation. The GST implementation has not been beneficial for the state," he said.

"The government proposes 2.5 lakh water connections in the upcoming financial year. We will also construct one lakh houses under Life Mission," the finance minister said.

The budget has allocated Rs 90 crore for Pravasi Welfare Fund and the government proposes power projects with a capacity of 500 MW.

"The government proposes Kochi development plan with a fund of Rs 6,000 crore. The city will get an unified travel card and Metro project will be extended," Issac said.

The state government has increased all welfare pension funds by Rs 100, allotted Rs 40 crore to paddy farmers and Rs 10 crore for startups in the state.

The local self-governments have been allotted Rs five crore for waste management, Rs 20 crore has been set apart for 1,000 food stalls under hunger-free Kerala, where meals will be made available at Rs 25. 

Bengaluru, Jan 12: Janata Dal (Secular) chief and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda on Sunday refuted reports of him contesting in the Rajya Sabha elections and added that he is more concerned about strengthening his party in Karnataka.

"I am not interested in going to Rajya Sabha. My concern is to build and strengthen the party in the region to the best of my ability. I had declared earlier that I will not contest elections anymore," Deve Gowda told ANI here.

"My party MP D Kupendra Reddy is there in the Rajya Sabha as of now and further decisions will be taken by the party. In March 2019, towards the end of the 16th Lok Sabha I had declared that I will not contest any more elections," Deve Gowda added.

Four Rajya Sabha seats in Karnataka are about to fall vacant in June this year as two of Congress, one of BJP and JD(S) MPs retire.

Bengaluru, Jan 30: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who reached the national capital on Thursday, said he will discuss the much-awaited Ministry expansion with the BJP high command.

"It's been long that I visited Delhi. I will meet the party national president J P Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah and take their suggestions on the cabinet expansion," Yediyurappa told reporters.

The chief minister said he will also call on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and discuss about development issues related to Karnataka.

Yediyurappa has been anxiously waiting for the high command's nod to expand his ministry amid intense lobbying by the aspirants.

Opposition parties have been critical of the BJP and Yediyurappa over the delay in cabinet expansion, alleging that he was weak and that the administration had collapsed.

As the chief minister has already made it clear that 11 of the disqualified JDS-Congress MLAs who got re-elected in the bypolls on BJP tickets will be made ministers, lobbying has been on in the party for the remaining ministerial berths.

Currently, there are 18 Ministers, including the chief minister in the cabinet that has a sanctioned strength of 34. Sixteen berths are vacant.