Karnataka: CM Siddaramaiah accuses Nirmala Sitharaman of lying

Mysuru, Jul 29 (PTI) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday accused Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of "lying" as he targeted her and the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for meting out 'injustice" to the State in the recent Union Budget.

He alleged that the BJP was trying to taint the Congress-ruled Karnataka as a "corrupt state." The Chief Minister also said that he and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar will be travelling to New Delhi as they have been called by the Congress high command to "discuss the party and the government" but did not elaborate.

"Pre-budget meeting was called, we had said there that you (Centre) have said that you will give Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra project. Is it there in the Budget? It is not given. The fifteenth finance commission in its report has recommended Rs 5,495 crore as special grants, is it there? It was said that Rs 3,000 crore will be given for the peripheral ring road (in Bengaluru). It was promised to give Rs 3,000 crore for development of water bodies, is it there (in the budget)?" Siddaramaiah asked.

Speaking to reporters here, he said: "None of these are in the budget, is it not injustice? (grants) have been given to Andhra and Bihar, what is given to Karnataka? Union Ministers H D Kumaraswamy and Nirmala Sitharaman could have at least said that they will make efforts to ensure Karnataka gets (its due)." The Chief Minister was responding to a question on Sitharaman on Sunday dismissing his allegation that Karnataka did not get its due share in the budget this year. She had claimed there was a lot of misinformation being spread about fund allocation.

Sitharaman had also alleged that because of the "worsening law and order situation (in Karnataka), industries are scared and they want to get out.

Siddaramaiah said: "Has any new industry come to his (Kumaraswamy's) Mandya constituency? Has any industrial corridor come to the state? No Mekedatu (project), no industry, the grants we had sought had not come, we had sought for AIIMS in Raichur, IIT for Hassan or Mysuru -- has it happened? What has she (Sitharaman) given to say that no injustice has happened," he added.

"Whenever Nirmala Sitharaman has come (to Karnataka), she has lied," Siddaramaiah said. "She has lied in the past too, even now she is lying. She claims to have given funds/grants for the state, do you know Karnataka is the state that has faced most injustice in the fifteenth financial commission, despite her representing the state as the Rajya Sabha member." She has alleged industries are going to other states from Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said and asked: "do you know that there is a 31 per cent drop in FDI coming to the country, it is because of whom? It is because of policies and programmes; who makes policies and programmes? it is Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman, who is the finance Minister of the country." Maharashtra is number one in tax collection, Karnataka is number two -- "what is that contribution we have not given?" the Chief Minister said.

Noting that he had boycotted the NITI Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week in protest against the injustice meted out to the state in the Union Budget, Siddaramaiah said: "not just me, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and several other non-BJP Chief Ministers have also not attended, except West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee -- she too had walked out of the meeting, as she was not given time to speak." Further pointing out that the Centre is accusing the state government of borrowing more loans, he said: " but we have done within the fiscal responsibility act limits -- 25 per cent per cent of the GSDP while they (Centre) have borrowed over Rs 15 lakh crore." Responding to a question, the Chief Minister said "everyone together should all protest against the injustice meted out to the state." "....but for them (BJP) to taint Karnataka as a corrupt state... Karnataka is not corrupt. After we (Congress) came to power, we are fighting against the corruption, under our government corruption has come down," he said. PTI