Cong. slams Centre for ‘withholding’ funds for Karnataka

The Congress on Monday accused the Modi government of withholding funds that should “rightfully” go to Karnataka, saying the people of the State were being made to pay the price just because they exercised their democratic right to elect a Congress government.

Congress general secretary incharge, Communications, Jairam Ramesh alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was constantly trying to “throttle” the finances of States.

His remarks came after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleged in a post on ◣ that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was consistently denying the written word.

“The interim report of the 15 FC (Finance Commission) for 202021 sanctioned ₹6,764 crores for three states, viz Karnataka (₹5,495 crores), Telangana (₹723 crores) & Mizoram (₹546 crores),” he said.

“These grants were recommended not because of any special love for these states. These were recommended to ensure that no state receives a lower share in devolution in absolute numbers than the previous year,” he noted.

In the final report, the 15th Finance Commission also recommended ₹6,000 crore for Karnataka — ₹3,000 crore for revival of waterbodies and ₹3,000 crore for the Peripheral Ring Road for Bengaluru, he said.

The Ministry of Finance refused to accept these two recommendations, thus denying the rightful share for Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said.

Tagging Mr. Siddaramaiah’s post, Mr. Ramesh said the Modi government and its “remotecontrolled Ministers” would cross every line to violate the spirit of federalism, sidestep the recommendations of constitutional bodies and unleash their political vendettas.

Though Karnataka contributed ₹4.3 lakh crore each year in taxes, the Finance Minister, incidentally a member of the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, had rejected these recommendations and withheld almost ₹12,000 crore in funds that should rightfully go to the State, the Congress leader claimed.