Karnataka slipping into bankruptcy, corrective steps needed: B Y Vijayendra sends four-page letter to Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Alleging that the state government under the Chief Ministership of Siddaramaiah is slipping into bankruptcy, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra on Monday appealed to the CM to initiate corrective steps in his 16th budget he is slated to present on March 7.

In his four-page open letter to the CM and released to the media by the BJP state office here, Vijayendra said that in the last two years, after Siddaramaiah assumed power, the state’s borrowings had reached new proportions.

“In just two years, you have borrowed more than Rs 2 lakh crore. Instead of pushing the state to the brink of bankruptcy, the CM must focus on creating employment opportunities and bring in revenue reforms to plug leakages in the state,” he said.

He asked why Siddaramaiah, known for maintaining fiscal discipline, was not able to handle the state’s finances properly in the last two years.

“Why is the government not able to clear contractors' pending bills? Ever since Congress came to power, energy bills from various government departments are pending, while salaries of many employees are getting delayed. All these point towards one thing - the state economy is slipping towards bankruptcy,” he alleged.

Though Siddaramaiah is presenting his record 16th budget on March 7, it is very much uncertain whether he will be able to present his 17th budget next fiscal year, he said.

“Therefore, Siddaramaiah must treat this budget as his last and do justice to his record of presenting the highest number of budgets by bringing the state finances back on track,” he said.

Slamming the hike in Metro and bus fares, besides the rise in prices of power, fuel, milk and other essential commodities, the BJP state president said there  was talk that milk prices would be increased again and water tariff would go up.

Taking a dig at Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s remark expressing helplessness about Bengaluru traffic and Home Minister G Parameshwara’s resignation remarks, Vijayendra said two powerful ministers expressing their helplessness was a clear signal that this government had given up hope.