Karnataka Congress to protest Centre’s ‘step-motherly treatment’ in Delhi on Feb 7

The move to protest against the Centre comes in the background of the lone Congress MP from Karnataka, D K Suresh, the younger brother of D K Shivakumar, stating after the interim Union Budget on February 1 that states in South India may be forced to seek a separate country if injustice prevails in fund allotments.

“Karnataka has been getting a raw deal in the Union budgets. The state has lost a revenue of about Rs 62,000 crore in the last 5 years due to this. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, cabinet ministers, MLAs and MLCs will also participate in the protest to be held on February 7. We have written to the Centre about the venue for the protest,” Shivakumar said on Friday.

While Shivakumar justified his brother’s statements, Siddaramaiah has said that it may have been given in anger but there was some substance in it. “The MP must have said it out of anger. It is not his intention to seek a separate country for South India. The country should be united,” Siddaramaiah said.

“Nirmala Sitharaman is the finance minister and she has caused a lot of injustice to Karnataka. Under the 15th Finance Commission, the state must get Rs 5,495 crore of grants and another Rs 6,000 crore for projects like the peripheral ring road but it has not been given. It was recommended in the interim report of the 15th Finance Commission. Despite being sent to Parliament from Karnataka and being finance minister, she has not done anything,” he added.

Twenty-seven of the 28 Lok Sabha MPs from Karnataka are from the BJP (including one of its ally, the JDS, and one of an Independent who is allied with the BJP). The BJP has 66 MLAs plus 19 of the JDS while Congress has one MP and 136 MLAs (including one Independent allied with the party).

“The size of the Union budget which was Rs 24.5 lakh crore in 2018-19 has doubled in 2023-24 to 45 lakh crore but the state has not benefited from it. Though the Budget size has doubled, grants for Karnataka have only gone up a little from Rs 46,000 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 50,000 crore in 2022-23,” Shivakumar said.

“Budgetary allocations for Karnataka have come down by 40-45 per cent since 2018-19 increasing the debt burden on the state. As per a recent survey, the allocations have been coming down by around Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000 crore every year. Karnataka was getting a share of 4.71 per cent as per the 14th Finance Commission but it has been reduced to 3.64 per cent in the 15th Finance Commission. The state has lost Rs 62,000 crore due to this reduction. The state has not got many funds announced in the previous Union Budgets,” he said on Friday.

“The Centre announced Rs 5,200 crore for the Upper Bhadra project but no funds have been released yet. They had also promised to provide funds for Bengaluru Metro but nothing has happened. I have written to the Union ministers concerned but have not got any response. This is nothing but step-motherly treatment towards the state,” Shivakumar said.

“I am not going to compare Karnataka to Gujarat. We are just asking for our fair share. We thought the ‘double engine government’ may have helped Karnataka. But a detailed analysis shows the state has lost Rs 62,000 crore in spite of the budget doubling in size,” he said.

“Various taxes make up for Rs 4 lakh crore but the Centre gives only about Rs 50,000 crore. This means the Centre is giving back only about Rs 12-13 for every Rs 100 tax generated from the state,” Shivakumar explained.

The Congress chief has accused the BJP of trying to politicise the statements made by his brother rather than addressing the concerns raised through the statement. “The BJP is trying to politicise this. Suresh was only warning the Centre that such a situation may arise if the injustice continues towards Karnataka and other states. Congress party is the one which has fought for a free India and today it is fighting to keep it united,” he said.

The BJP has accused the Congress MP of seeking the division of India when Congress leaders led by Rahul Gandhi have embarked on a Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to unite the country. The BJP has also sought an apology from Suresh and action against him in Parliament for his statement.