The Opposition BJP has countered the Congress government’s allegations that the BJP government at the Centre has been displaying step-motherly attitude towards Karnataka by maintaining that the total Central allocation to the State has actually increased by three folds during the BJP regime compared with the earlier UPA regime.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashok took to social media to accuse the Chief Minister of resorting to lies. “A lie will not become a truth just because you repeat it 100 times. You too know that the actual truth is that the central allocation has increased by more than three folds during the BJP regime when compared with the erstwhile UPA regime,” he said.
He urged the Chief Minister to come out with a White Paper on the Central allocation for Karnataka in the last 20 years so that the truth would be known.
Echoing similar views, former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai described the proposed protest in Delhi by the Congress as a “political stunt” to cover up its own mistakes.
He blamed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah himself for the State receiving lesser grants by the 15th Finance Commission than that allocated by the 14th Finance Commission. “Mr. Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minister when the 15th Finance Commission’s Committee visited Karnataka. But the committee was not apprised of the real financial condition of the State. Naturally, the percentage of grants decreased from 4.7% to 3.6% for which Mr. Siddaramaiah is squarely responsible,” he said.
He said during the UPA regime, the State received ₹81,795 crore through various taxes and during the NDA regime, Karnataka had got ₹2,82,791 crore. It got a tenure of another two years and by 2026.
The State is expected to get ₹2.5 lakh crore more over the next two years till the completion of the term of the 15th Finance Commission. This would be ₹1,51,309 crore more than the 14th Finance Commission of the UPA regime, he claimed.
In addition to this, the State had received a huge push from the Centre with respect to infrastructure development works, he said while pointing out that 13,500 km of highway had been developed during the regime of Narendra Modi government as against the development of only 6,000 km since Independence to 2014.
