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13th Budget of a ‘tired’ govt: CM Siddaramaiah on Union Budget 2026-27
Karnataka criticizes the 2026-27 Union budget as unfocused, offering little support for the state and southern India, claiming it leaves them empty-handed.
The Karnataka government has criticised the Union budget for 2026–27, calling it unfocused, lacking direction and offering little for the state or the southern region.
In a statement issued after the budget presentation, Siddaramaiah described it as the 13th budget of a government that appears “tired” and “confused,” and said it relied on statements rather than clear development measures. It said the goal of Viksit Bharat remains rhetorical, with no concrete plan outlined.
“The Central budget has not gone above the level of large city corporation budgets,” the statement said, calling it the “most disappointing budget”. It added that the document was filled with “tired words” and showed no clarity about the country’s development direction.
The statement repeated a long-standing regional complaint, saying Karnataka had again been handed a “Chombu,” a colloquial term implying being left empty-handed. “Karnataka got nothing. As usual, they gave a Chombu. Not just Karnataka, the entire South India got nothing,” he said.
The budget’s proposal for high-speed rail links between Bengaluru and Hyderabad and Chennai was described as offering “limited benefit” to Karnataka because most of the route length lies outside the state. The statement said corridors such as Bengaluru–Mumbai or Bengaluru–Mangaluru would have been more useful. It also noted there was no mention of the Bengaluru Metro or suburban rail.
He said there is no mention about the state’s irrigation projects. “We had asked for Upper Bhadra and Upper Krishna projects to be declared as national projects.” The CM also hit out at the Centre for delays in clearances to river water projects like Mekedatu and Mahadayi.
The statement also raised concerns about federal funding, referring to the 16th Finance Commission. It said Karnataka contributes 8.7% to national GDP and ranks first in per capita tax collection but continues to receive lower allocations.
The government said that although the overall budget increased by about 5.56% to ₹53.47 lakh crore, several sectors saw reduced allocations.
In defense, funds for the aircraft division fell from ₹72,780 crore to ₹63,734 crore, and national security technology funding dropped from ₹31,631 crore to ₹9,800 crore, according to the statement. In agriculture, the urea subsidy was reduced from ₹1.26 lakh crore to ₹1.16 lakh crore. “There is no priority for farmers and the rural economy,” Siddaramaiah said. The allocation for the India AI Mission was cut from ₹2,000 crore to ₹1,000 crore.
For disaster relief under the State Disaster Response Fund for 2026–31, it said Maharashtra was allocated ₹31,597 crore and Uttar Pradesh ₹16,342 crore, while Karnataka received ₹5,135 crore. In grants to local bodies over five years, Karnataka received ₹37,372 crore, compared with ₹1.16 lakh crore for Uttar Pradesh and ₹79,620 crore for Maharashtra.
