Bangalore: What with the country headed for Lok Sabha elections before the next budget, Yeddyurappa would be under political compulsion to deliver a populist budget to consolidate his party's position ahead of the general elections... As Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa rises to present his BJP government's maiden budget in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, he would be quite relaxed about one thing: his Congress and JD(S) political rivals are no longer in a position to challenge the government's stability. The resignation of five Opposition MLAs has ensured that. But beyond sealing the legislative numbers in his favour, Yeddyurappa appeared rather tense as he interacted with mediapersons on Wednesday on the eve of presenting his maiden budget as chief minister. The reasons are not far to find out. As his own finance minister, Yeddyurappa, who also held the post and presented two budgets in the earlier JD(S)-BJP government, is quite familiar with the state of government finances. The CM's headaches Resource mobilisation situation is not very satisfactory. He has just eight months of this fiscal year available to mop up resources. At the same time, his ability to raise additional resources in tax revenue is very limited as there is hardly any political space for unpopular tax proposals. What with the country headed for Lok Sabha elections before the next budget, Yeddyurappa would be under political compulsion to deliver a populist budget to consolidate his party's position ahead of the general elections. Of course, he also has to have an eye on upcoming BBMP elections. Already, the government is under pressure to adequately address the severe shortage of fertilisers. A few spells of rains over the last two days have only made him more anxious as the demand for fertilisers has shot up suddenly. That is not only headache for the chief minister. Power shortage is already worrisome and an indifferent monsoon so far is also threatening an imminent drought-like conditions across the State. Despite these concerns, Yeddyurappa assured that his budget would be pro-farmer, pro-poor, pro-rural and pro-urban. "At least 50 per cent of the promises made in the party manifesto will be met. We have five years to implement the manifesto,' he said. "All I can say is that I have given equal importance to both urban and rural development. Still I do not hesitate to say that it will be a pro-farmer budget.' WHAT TO EXPECT *A farmer friendly budget *New schemes for ailing agricultural community *Free power to IP sets, but with riders *More funds for Bangalore development