Congress protest in Delhi on Feb 7 against ’injustice’ to Karnataka: DK Shivakumar

mangaloretoday.com

Bengaluru, Feb 03, 2024: The Congress government in Karnataka will stage a protest in New Delhi on February 7 against the central government’s "injustice" to the state in releasing its share of central grants, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Friday.

 

He said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Cabinet ministers, MLAs and MLCs will participate in the protest and asked the leaders from opposition parties in the state to take part in the demonstration. Siddaramaiah would lead the agitation and 138 Congress MLAs, MLCs and MPs will take part in it, Shivakumar was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

According to him, a letter has been written to the authorities in Delhi seeking permission to stage the demonstration on February 7.

“Karnataka is one of the most progressive states in the country with the second highest tax contribution to the country’s exchequer. Karnataka has got a raw deal in yesterday’s Union budget. The State hasn’t been getting a fair share in the last five years. Though 27 of the 28 MPs from Karnataka are from the BJP, they haven’t been able to get justice for the State,” he said.

Explaining the reason, Shivakumar said, "The State has lost a revenue of about Rs 62,000 crore in the last five years due to this. The size of the Union Budget which was Rs 24.5 lakh crore in 2018-19 has doubled in 2023-24 to Rs 45 lakh crores but the state hasn’t benefited from it. Though the Budget size has doubled, grants for Karnataka has only gone up a little from Rs 46,000 crores in 2018-19 to Rs 50,000 in 2022-23."

The Karnataka Congress chief said the central government has not released a "single paise" despite the state suffering from severe drought.

He said fighting for the State’s rights has become imperative in the given situation.

Courtesy: India Today