Karnataka budget 2018 today, Will Kumaraswamy walk the talk on farm loan waiver?

All eyes will be on Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who will present his maiden budget for the fiscal 2018-19 in Vidhana Soudha on Thursday. The farmers' community in the state was eagerly waiting for the Karnataka budget 2018 amid high expectations of farm loan waiver.

Kumaraswamy, the chief minister of the ruling Janata Dal-Secular (JD-s)- Congress, had promised farm loan waivers within hours of coming to power during his election campaigning.

He, however, had said that the decision on farm loan waiver was delayed due to coalition compulsions as the people of the state didn’t give him enough votes to take independent decisions.

The budget also came days after former chief minister and coordination committee chief Siddaramaiah said that there was no need for a full budget and insisted that Kumaraswamy present only a supplementary budget.

Adding to the coalition’s discomfort of the Congress-JD-S coalition government in Karnataka, which was already facing turbulence over portfolio distribution, a video purportedly showing Siddaramaiah questioning the full budget and expressing skepticism over the longevity the alliance.

The opposition BJP has upped the ante and demanded that Kumaraswamy come out with a “white paper” on the state’s financial position before presenting the budget.

The leader of the opposition in the Assembly BS Yeddyurappa has warned that if the government fails to keep up its promises on loan waiver, his party will reach out to people of the state and inform them that Congress-JD-S government didn't ‘walk the talk.’

(With inputs from agencies)