Karnataka BJP’s R Ashoka labels Siddaramaiah 'biggest borrowing CM'

Karnataka’s Opposition BJP on Wednesday (January 7) called Chief Minister Siddaramaiah the “biggest borrowing CM”, and cited reports that the state is likely to borrow Rs 93,000 crore in the fourth quarter from January to March.

The sharp criticism came the day Siddaramaiah, who currently also holds the state’s finance portfolio, made history as the longest-serving CM of Karnataka.

Leader of Opposition in Assembly and senior BJP leader R Ashoka quipped that Siddaramaiah is not the longest serving CM, but is the “biggest borrowing CM”.

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Ashoka took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to post: “The difference between a statistic and a legacy is [that] the title of longest serving CM is merely a statistic. The title of biggest borrowing CM is a legacy.”

He added, “One of these will be forgotten; the other will be permanently remembered in Karnataka’s history books.”

Staggering figures

Ashoka further claimed that a staggering Rs 93,000 crore was borrowed by the Congress-led government within a single quarter, and called it “the biggest Q4 loan haul in India.”

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According to him, this was not governance but was “the very definition of panic-driven financial management” of which this “debt surge”, as he claims, was driven by a collapsing fiscal structure.

He went on to further accuse the state government of borrowing to repay previous loans; for “dangerously” funding unsustainable guarantee schemes; and added that “fundamental economic planning failed, leading to a cash flow collapse.”

“When a government is forced to borrow an average of ₹31,000 crore every month just to stay afloat, it is not a sign of strength, but a clear indicator of fiscal stress.” he claimed in his post.

(With agency inputs)