Untying the Only Cash Cow: Why Yediyurappa Withdrew Curfew Orders

According to sources, there was pressure from the Central government and state Cabinet to impose the night curfew.

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa

(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

Karnataka government’s decision to reverse the night curfew has many perplexed. The U-turn comes just a day after the government decided to impose a curfew from Thursday, from 11 pm to 5 am, in light of the discovery of a strand of mutated COVID-19 virus in India.

Sources told The Quint that Yediyurappa was not in favour of any curfew, however, he agreed to impose the order because of pressure from Government of India and the Technical Advisory Committee.

They added that this half-hearted discussion was opposed by pub- and bar-owners as well, which was the reason for the government changing the curfew timings to 11 pm to 5 am within hours of the order on Wednesday.

Tying the Only Cash Cow

During his budget speech on 5 March, CM Yediyurappa acknowledged that reduction in the divisive pools from the central funds, as per the 15th pay commission’s recommendations, has cost the state Rs 8,887 crore.

The nationwide lockdown that followed further drained the state’s spending power.

In its attempts to make up for the reduction in central funds, Yediyurappa also announced a 6 percent increase in excise duty on Indian-Made Liquor (IML) across all 18 slabs. In the hopes of raising additional funds from the sector, the Excise Department’s targets for the financial year have been increased from Rs 20,950 crore to Rs 22,700 crore as well. Every year, the excise department earns the most during the last two weeks of the year.

Yediyurappa Didn’t Want any Restrictions: Sources

In fact on Tuesday, 22 December, Yediyurappa had announced that Karnataka is not going to impose night curfew in the state after neighbouring Maharashtra announced such a move after a new coronavirus variant was detected in Britain.

"This (new coronavirus variant) is something that has worried the people of the state and the country, we have come to know that a person who has arrived in Chennai has been found infected. We have to be extra cautious. Whoever comes from outside, they will be checked at the airports itself before allowing them," Yediyurappa had said on Tuesday.

According to sources, hours after this statement, there was pressure from the Central government and within the state Cabinet to impose the night curfew.

The Yediyurappa camp made it clear that the chief minister was not in favour of any lockdowns or restrictions. “He also holds the finance ministry and he wanted to ensure that the economy picked up pace, especially since the number of cases is coming down. There was a lot of pressure from the Central government and within the state government to impose a curfew like in Maharashtra. However, better wisdom prevailed today,” a source close to the chief minister said.

By Thursday, Yediyurappa overturned the earlier decision to impose the plans.