South not represented in 15th Finance panel: Minister

Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Wednesday said it was unfortunate tha the five-member 15th Finance Commission had no representative from southern India.

"It's unfortunate that the Central government could not find one capable person from south India to serve in the 5-member 15th Finance Commission. In the past many members from the south have done illustrious service to the nation,” Gowda tweeted.

He, however, hoped that the panel will do justice to the better-performing states of the south by making "fair recommendations."

His comments come a day after the Commission, which was on a visit to Karnataka, held discussions with Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and top officials of the government. The Commission is headed by N K Singh. Its members include A N Jha, Ashok Lahiri, Anoop Singh and Ramesh Chand.

Gowda, in a series of tweets, claimed that injustice was done to Karnataka in allocating funds during 2015-20. To combat drought and floods the state got Rs 1,527 crore under the Sate Disaster Relief Fund for the period of 2015-20, whereas Maharashtra got Rs 8,195 crore. "We have appealed to the commission to correct these injustices and make fair recommendations," he said.