In the first discordant note over the budget, senior Congress leader H K Patil has written to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, demanding programmes tothe minority community and also the northern region of the state.
He has also written to former ChiefMinister and Chairman of the Congress-JD(S) coalitioncommittee,Siddaramaiah,to call for an emergency meeting of thecommittee, to address this "serious issue".
In a letter to Kumaraswamy praising the government's farm loan waiver announced in the budget, the former minister suggested that a few programmes should have been announced for the welfare of the minority community, "responsible for the victory of secular parties in the 2018 state assembly polls."
Patil urged the chief minister to announce a few programmes while replying to the discussion on the budget.
Also noting that people of north Karnataka had huge expectations from this budget,Patil said people therehad felt that the government would announce specialprogrammes to provide infrastructure to new talukas,announced during the previous government's tenure.
He said the budget presented yesterday had made no mention about any new schemes for the region, other than reiterating certain schemes announced in the previous budget.
"This has disappointed people of north Karnataka andhurt their feelings," he said adding that it was the dutyof the coalition government to respect their feelings.
Heurged the Chief Minister to announce several special programmes for the region to provide 'justice' to the people there and eradicate regional imbalance.
Making out a similar case in a letter to Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah,Patil,an MLA from Gadag, askedhim to convene an emergency meeting of the coordination committee to find a solution to the "serious issue".
Patil, a former Minister, has reportedly sentsimilar letters to AICC General secretary in charge of Karnataka, K C Venugopal,Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and a few other senior leaders in the coalition.
Patil had led a group of disgruntled MLAs, who were upset with the party for not giving them ministerial berths during the cabinet expansion of the coalition government.
He was also seen as a contender for the post ofKarnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President's post, to which Dinesh Gundu Rao was appointed on Wednesday.
Congress sources said there are some more party leaders and MLAs unhappy over the budget, pointing allegedly to the 'neglect' towards north Karnataka andminority community.
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