Bengaluru: Criticising the Union Budget, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, it resembled a Municipal Corporation Budget and termed it the most disappointing Budget he has seen in his political career.

The CM said that in the 2025-26 Budget, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had promised an allocation of Rs. 5.41 lakh crore for Union Government-sponsored schemes. “However, in the current Budget, this allocation has been reduced to Rs. 4.2 lakh crore,” he said.

Referring to the announcement of two high-speed rail projects — Hyderabad-Bengaluru and Chennai-Bengaluru — the CM claimed these projects would offer little benefit to Karnataka as they do not cover long distances within the State.

“If the Union Government really wanted to help Karnataka, it should have announced Bengaluru-Mumbai and Bengaluru-Mangaluru high-speed rail projects,” he said.

Siddaramaiah also alleged that Finance Minister Sitharaman had relied on the same clichéd phrases while presenting the Budget, which, he said, reflected the Union Government’s inability to chart the right direction for the country’s development.

The CM further pointed out that there was no discussion on the devaluation of the rupee or measures to address it.

He claimed that foreign investment was declining, imports were rising and exports were falling, but the Budget failed to address these concerns. Instead, benefits to exporters had been                               curtailed, he alleged.

Siddaramaiah also noted that the urea subsidy had been reduced from Rs. 1.26 lakh crore to Rs. 1.16 lakh crore, while allocations for nutrient-based programmes had also been cut.

Despite the Union Government’s claims of strengthening the defence sector, he claimed that allocations for the aircraft division had been reduced from Rs. 72,780 crore to                                                   Rs. 63,734 crore.