Bangalore: Siddharamaiah, Karnataka opposition leader has accused Home Minister Amit Shah of lying at a recent event in the state.
Amit Shah had accused Congress of corruption; Siddaramaiah has rebutted Home Minister’s accusation with some data and has declared Shah as a “liar who worships lies.”
1. In his tweets, the leader of the opposition said, “Amit Shah has yet again found lies to accuse Congress of destroying Karnataka. I ask him to read the following data and reply to me with patience.”
Siddharamaiah then went on to school Amit Shah in Finance 101 and demolished all of Amit Shah’s claims about largesse given to Karnataka.
During UPA between 2010-11 to 2013-14, 13th finance commission recommended ₹ 45,713 Cr to Karnataka. The actual devolution was ₹ 47,036 Cr. This is an increase by ₹ 1,323 Cr than what was promised.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) January 18, 2021
In a series of eight tweets Former CM Siddharamaiah explained how the centre and Karnataka’s relation was under UPA rule and now under NDA governement how Karnataka is being stripped of its allocation which is putting the state in debt.
“Under the UPA rule between 2010/11- 2013/14 the 13th finance commission recommended Rs. 45,713 Cr to Karnataka. The actual devolution was Rs. 47,036 Cr. This is an increase by Rs. 1,323 Cr than what was promised. During the BJP rule between 2014/15 -2019/20, the 13th and 14th financial commission recommended Rs.2,03,039 Cr and only Rs. 1,65,963 Cr was the actual devolution. This is a decrease in the devolution by 18.2 percent.” – Siddharamaiah tweeted.
“For the financial year of 2019-20 the finance commission had recommended Rs.48, 768 Cr. However the state received just Rs. 30, 919 Cr. We also need to consider the annual increase in the total budget allocation by the central government.
According to the state government of Karnataka, the share of the state for the financial year of 2020-21 is Rs. 28,591 Cr. Siddaramaiah is concerned that the government might get only Rs.15,017 Cr; and in which case the state’s share would be Rs.33,751 Cr less than what was recommended by the finance commission for the financial year 2019-20.”
He continued by pointing at the scenario of the GST compensation by raising concern that the government might concur losses anywhere between Rs. 25-27 crores. The central government has declared that it would compensate only Rs. 18-19,000 Cr. Siddaramaiah asked who would be held responsible for these losses. The central government was to compensate with Rs.31,570 Cr, however as per the recent calculations the government cannot afford anything more than Rs.17,372 Cr. This is a loss to the state government worth of Rs.14,198 Cr. The state government might receive Rs. 50,000 Cr lesser than what was received the previous year.
According to Siddaramaiah Karnataka may lose about Rs 50,000 Cr, compared to last year if we consider all the transfers from the Centre. This will increase fiscal deficit of Karnataka & also a burden to bridge the deficit. The fiscal deficit of Karnataka for decades now is worth Rs.3.2 lakh cr. Chief Minister B.S Yeddyurappa has decided to borrow Rs. 90,000 cr this year.
Siddharamaiah accused the BJP government of deliberately pushing the state of Karnataka into debt. The finance commission had recommended a special package worth Rs. 5,495 Cr which the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has refused to pass. Siddaramaiah has asked if Amit Shah was unaware of these developments. He has also pointed out that the central government has to return 42 percent of the total taxes worth Rs. 2,20,000 Cr.
(The article was first published in Naanu Gauri and is translated by Yogesh S).
