Without defenders, Karnataka BJP MLAs find themselves cornered over funds from Centre

Belagavi: A handful of BJP lawmakers found themselves cornered by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and other Congress members over the "injustice" faced by Karnataka from the Union government during a debate in the Assembly on Wednesday.

Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka and other frontline BJP lawmakers were not present in the Assembly owing to a saffron party protest against the Congress government when the supplementary estimates came up for discussion in the Assembly.

Initiating the debate, senior Congress MLA Basavaraj Rayareddi said Karnataka had incurred losses under the 15th Finance Commission (FC) with Narendra Modi as prime minister compared to the 14th Finance Commission when Manmohan Singh was at the helm of affairs.

"In 2018-19, when the 14th FC was in force, the size of the Union budget was Rs 21.57 lakh crore and Karnataka got Rs 58,753 crore under devolution and grants-in-aid," Rayareddi said.

"In 2019-20, under 14th FC, the Union budget was Rs 27.86 lakh crore and the state got Rs 61,786 crore. Now, for 2023-24 under the 15th FC, the Union budget is Rs 45.03 lakh crore, but the state is getting Rs 50,257 crore," Rayareddi said. "Going by what we used to get, the state lost Rs 73,572 crore. Our MPs should speak about this."

It was upon BJP MLAs Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, Aravind Bellad, S R Vishwanath, Munirathna and S T Somashekar to defend themselves.

"We're just 4-5 people here. We don't understand finances much. These figures are shocking to us," Vishwanath said, urging Speaker UT Khader to postpone the discussion to Thursday.

When Congress' K M Shivalinge Gowda also slammed the Union government, Yatnal objected. "This is a discussion on supplementary estimates. We're not financial experts. We don't have statistics. What's the need to criticise PM Modi?" he said.

Vishwanath preferred discussing "everything the state has received" from the Union government: food grains, LPG connections under Ujjwala, roads and railways.

Siddaramaiah asked the BJP MLAs to explain why Karnataka has not received Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra Project as promised in the Union budget in February this year. "We're in December and not a single rupee has been released," he said.

Yatnal countered thus: "How many times have you met the PM and Nirmala Sitharaman? All you've done is pontificate."

Somashekar, who jumped from the Congress to BJP and is now seen as a 'disgruntled' saffron MLA, made his peace. "I've seen Siddaramaiah's budgets between 2013 and 2018. He has followed fiscal discipline," he said. "I trust him with these supplementary estimates."

In the end, the Assembly passed the supplementary estimates of Rs 3,542.10 crore.