Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday rubbished allegations that he had presented an “Ahinda” or an “election budget” while mentioning that though he championed the Ahinda cause he believed in inclusive growth and progress of all.

In a spirited defence of the state budget in the Legislative Assembly, Siddaramaiah said that programmes like Anna Bhagya, Ksheera Bhagya, Vidyasiri were not restricted to any community and the charges leveled by the Opposition that he had presented an Ahinda budget were baseless.

Dodging the opposition demand for waiver of farm loans, Siddaramaiah reiterated that he is ready to waive 50% loans raised by farmers from cooperative institutions if the Centre waived 50% loans procured from nationalised banks. However, he dropped indications that the repayment period to repay farm loans may be extended.

He rubbished charges made by the Opposition that the state is sliding into a debt trap adding that the state borrowings are within fiscal limits (25% of GSDP) and that there is nothing wrong in borrowing as long as it is put to good use.

Dissatisfied with the reply, BJP members staged a walkout. Both the Houses of legislature passed the Karnataka Appropriation Bill, 2017, for an amount of Rs 48,729 crore for a period till July 31 this year (vote on account) and other consequential bills by a voice vote.