Bengaluru, Feb 1 (UNI) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday launched a sharp attack on the union Budget 2026–27, alleging that it relied more on grand narratives and rhetoric than on clear intent, fiscal commitment and accountability, while weakening the spirit of cooperative federalism.
Addressing a press meet, Siddaramaiah said the Budget was heavy on slogans such as “Viksit Bharat” and “Kartavya” but failed to spell out delivery mechanisms, timelines or measurable outcomes. He described the Budget speech as rich in intent statements but poor in financial backing, arguing that vision had been announced while execution had been postponed.
He said Karnataka’s repeated demands for fairness had been ignored and asserted that the Budget had not merely neglected the state but done injustice to its people. The document, he added, read more like a compilation of high-level jargon than a serious policy roadmap, relying on vague expressions such as “enable”, “encourage” and “support” instead of concrete action plans, allocations and timelines.
A union Budget, Siddaramaiah said, was expected to provide clarity and confidence, not manage perceptions through vocabulary. Vision without intent and allocation, he remarked, amounted to distraction rather than leadership.
Expressing disappointment over the union Government retaining tax devolution at 41 per cent, the Chief Minister said states’ fiscal responsibilities had steadily increased even as a growing share of revenues was being raised through cesses and surcharges that are not shareable. He pointed out that states were increasingly funding Centrally Sponsored Schemes themselves and bearing revenue losses arising from unilateral GST decisions taken by the Centre.
In this context, he said states had legitimately expected the devolution share to be increased to at least 50 per cent in the spirit of fairness and cooperative federalism. The failure to address this concern, he added, was not merely about numbers in the Budget but about fiscal balance, mutual trust and respect for the constitutional role of states.
Terming the Budget and the Finance Commission outcome as highly disappointing, Siddaramaiah noted that Karnataka’s share in divisible taxes had been reduced to 4.131 per cent from 4.71 per cent under the 14th Finance Commission. This reduction, he said, was part of a consistent pattern of sidelining Karnataka despite its strong contribution to the national exchequer and would result in an annual loss of ₹10,000 to ₹15,000 crore, directly affecting welfare, infrastructure, irrigation and development.
Questioning the claim that the fiscal deficit for 2025–26 had been maintained at 4.4 per cent of GDP, the Chief Minister said this had been achieved largely through under-spending and deferring commitments rather than improved efficiency or stronger revenues. He pointed out that against an estimated expenditure of ₹5,41,850 crore for Centrally Sponsored Schemes, revised estimates showed spending of only ₹4,20,077 crore.
He alleged that repeated cuts in revised estimates had eroded the sanctity and credibility of the union Budget, turning it into a document of promises rather than performance and shifting the financial burden onto fiscally stressed states.
