Bangalore, Feb 05: Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna will today present a full-fledged state budget for 2004-05. The budget would be the government's realistic commitment to its programmes and policies and would also spell out the initiative taken by him to respond to the needs of the people of the state, Krishna said, while talking to newspersons yesterday.
Krishna claimed that the proposed budget would be a ''realist'' one and not prepared with an eye on the coming elections. As a customary procedure, he would seek a vote-on-account for four months after presenting the budget. Agriculture, power and welfare of Dalits, minorities and weaker sections of the society would be the main thrust areas of his budget proposals, he informed.
He said that there was no change in his stand against holding simultaneous polls to the state assembly and Lok Sabha.
''We are never averse to face any elections from the Panchayats to the Lok Sabha,'' he added.
In an obvious reference to the repeated statements of Congress state president Janardhana Poojary on the issue, he said that in Orissa, it was Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who had taken a decision on holding simultaneous elections and similarly in Karnataka also, a right decision would be taken at an appropriate time. Bureau Report