Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during a pre-Budget meeting in Bengaluru on Friday.
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Hitting back at Opposition BJP leaders for their remarks over Karnataka’s financial situation, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said it was during the BJP’s rule that the State’s economy was pushed to the brink of collapse.
Asserting that Karnataka’s economy remains strong despite this, he said the State’s average Budget growth over the last two years was 18.3% as against just 5% during the BJP’s four-year rule.
The Chief Minister was responding to allegations made by Opposition leaders that the State’s economy is declining and Karnataka is heading towards “bankruptcy”, holding the Congress government’s guarantee schemes as responsible for it.
“Our government is working hard to bring the State’s economy back on track after the mismanagement and chaos caused by the BJP’s irresponsible financial policies. It is unfortunate that the BJP cannot accept or understand this,” he said in a statement.
“The State’s own tax revenue growth is 15% as against 11% during the BJP’s tenure. We are providing over ₹90,000 crore annually directly to the people through DBT and subsidies… The Central government contributes only ₹450 crore, the same as during former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s tenure. What has the BJP done for Karnataka?” he asked.
Fiscal discipline
Stating that Karnataka’s fiscal discipline is intact, the Chief Minister said the fiscal deficit is below 3%, and total liabilities are within 25% of the GSDP. “Our capital expenditure is better than neighbouring progressive States. Karnataka is spending 15.01% of its Budget on capital expenditure as against 12.74% by Maharashtra, 10.58% by Tamil Nadu, and 11.58% by Telangana,” he said.
He added that Karnataka was providing over ₹52,000 crore for guarantee schemes and supporting farmers in distress. “Our government has implemented the 7th Pay Commission report, increasing salaries by 27.5%. We are paying an additional ₹16,000 crore in salaries this year.”
BJP’s unpaid bills
Giving details of the finances during the BJP regime, the Chief Minister said the BJP had taken up projects worth seven times more than the Budget allocated during its tenure. “As of March 31, 2023, they left behind unpaid bills worth ₹2,70,695 crore for key departments such as Public Works, Minor Irrigation, Water Resources, Urban Development, Rural Development, and Housing. They also approved projects worth ₹1,66,426 crore under the Chief Minister’s discretionary fund. Can such financial mismanagement, irresponsibility, and corruption be fixed in just a few years?” he asked.
He further said that despite the BJP-led Central government under Narendra Modi “exploiting Karnataka’s resources”, the State BJP leaders have remained silent. “The Central government stopped compensating the State for GST losses, causing an annual revenue loss of ₹18,000 crore-₹20,000 crore.”
Injustice in tax devolution
Reiterating that the Centre had done “great injustice” to Karnataka in tax devolution, he said, “In 2018-2019, when the Central Budget was ₹24.42 lakh crore, Karnataka received ₹35,895 crore as its share. Now, with the Central Budget at ₹50.65 lakh crore, Karnataka is expected to receive only ₹51,000 crore. When compared with 2018, we should have received at least ₹73,000 crore. This alone causes an annual loss of ₹22,000 crore to the State.”
Due to the poor implementation of the GST since 2017, the Central government’s refusal to share cess and surcharges as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission, and the failure to release ₹5,300 crore for the Bhadra Upper Bank project, Karnataka has lost over ₹2.1 lakh crore, he said.
Published – February 21, 2025 10:25 pm IST
