Yeddyurappa rejects oppn charges on state's financial health

"It is very unfortunate that Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah, who was also finance minister, is making unfounded allegations about the financial situation of the state," he said.

"As a former finance minister, he should have gone into parameters determining financial health of the state such as revenue deficit, fiscal deficit, borrowings as a percentage of GSDP and plan expenditure," the Chief Minister said.

"I am confident that Karnataka's finance have been managed by our government very prudently. We are well within the limits prescribed by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act," he said in a statement here.

The total debt stock of the state stood at about Rs 66,000 crore in March 2009, as compared to over Rs 30 lakh crore of the Central government, he said, adding other states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and much smaller state Kerala have Rs 1,26,000 crore, Rs 1,76,000 crore and about Rs 65,000 crore total debt stocks, respectively.

"Thus Karnataka's debt is very small and is within the manageable limits," he said refuting the charge that the state had no resource to pay salaries of its employees.

Siddaramaiah had yesterday alleged that the gross financial mismanagement by the BJP government was driving the state towards bankruptcy.