BANGALORE: A delegation of Congress corporators, led by Mayor Mumtaz Begum, will meet Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on June 13 and urge him to reconsider the cut in budgetary allocations.

A decision to this effect was taken after Congress corporators and the Mayor met the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president M. Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday.

"We are waiting for the Chief Minister to return from his Dubai trip. We will request him to reconsider the cut and approve the Rs. 1,870-crore budget as it is. We are hopeful he will consider our demand," the Mayor told reporters later.

Congress sources said Mr. Kharge had convened a meeting of legislators from the city on Friday to discuss the issue.

"This is for the first time in the history of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike that the budget has been slashed by Rs. 500 crore. We are planning to take up this issue seriously as this happens to be an election year. We want the citizens to know why development works are being delayed," sources said.

Welcoming the Government's decision to slash budgetary allocations, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday said they would urge the Government to retain the allocations for "Janodhyanavana", street lights, playgrounds and gymnasiums, which had been taken away in the modified budget.

Addressing presspersons, BJP leader A.H. Basvaraju alleged that the ruling Congress in the council had failed to complete projects that were announced three years ago.

"They have no reason to crib now. If they had planned the budget within the available resources, this would not have happened," he added.

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