Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in a post on his official website that the Center released tax transfers of Rs 1,73,030 crore to state governments on January 10. Siddaramaiah’s post expressed dissatisfaction over the amount of Rs 6,310 crore given to Karnataka. According to him this was a big betrayal of Karnataka by the NDA government. He began the post by saying that he deliberately waited for a few days hoping that the Karnataka BJP leader would muster the courage to speak for Kannadigas.
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Siddaramaiah questioned why state BJP leaders were busy praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he blamed for betrayal, instead of protecting the interests of Karnataka. He pointed to the glaring gap between Karnataka’s economic contribution and its budget allocation. He said despite having only 5 per cent of India’s population and contributing 8.4 per cent to India’s GDP and leading the country in GST growth with 17 per cent growth, the state’s share has stagnated. The Chief Minister criticized the Central government for giving only Rs 44,485 crore in tax share and Rs 15,299 crore in grants to Karnataka, while the state contributes Rs 4.5 lakh crore annually to the national exchequer.
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Meanwhile, money has showered on corruption-hit states like Uttar Pradesh (Rs 31,039 crore), Bihar (Rs 17,403 crore), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 13,582 crore) and Rajasthan (Rs 10,426 crore). Is Karnataka being punished for excellence in governance, GST growth and development? According to him, these other states received disproportionately larger shares despite facing challenges of governance and corruption.
