Siddaramaiah trains guns on PM Modi, Nirmala Sitharaman over funds to Karnataka

“You are running in the name of Modi. You are the one who is breaking society,” he said.

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‘Does BJP care about Kannadigas?’

Karnataka was the second-highest tax-collecting state in the country, and was being treated unfairly, said Siddaramaiah during his speech in the Assembly.

“Does the BJP, which supports the Centre’s injustice, care about the Kannadigas?” asked the chief minister.

These statements of Siddaramaiah were targeted at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is also from Karnataka.

During his speech, he also said that the previous BJP government in the state did not achieve any progress. “They just looted. We implemented guarantee schemes along with development programmes,” he said.

“Basavaraja Bommai presented a budget that was about ₹3.09 lakh crore in February 2023. The size of the budget I presented for the year 2024-25 was ₹3,71,343 crore. This is ₹62,200 crore more than the budget Bommai presented. This is ₹43,601 crore more than the budget I presented in July 2023,” noted the chief minister.

“Similarly, the GDP of the state was ₹25,63,247 crore. It is expected to be ₹28,09,063 crore for the year 2024-25, which points to an increase of ₹2,41,723 crore. Can the budget size and the GDP increase without development?” asked Siddaramaiah.

Nine MLAs from the Congress, 13 from the BJP and three from the JD(S) participated in the discussion.

“All the members have given many suggestions regarding the budget. They criticised the budget and defended the Central government. I welcome all these. I would like to say that the government will do whatever possible in the next financial year according to these suggestions,” said Siddaramaiah.

“The total budget size in the 2024-25 budget is ₹3,71,343 crore. Revenue expenditure is ₹2,90,531 crore and capital expenditure is ₹55,877 crore. This is proof that we have prioritised development,” he said.

“The Opposition party said that there has been zero development. A sum of ₹1.2 lakh crore has been earmarked for development programmes. ₹52,009 crore has been set aside for guarantee schemes and the remaining amount has been allocated for development works,” said the chief minister.

“We have spent ₹36,000 crore on Shakti, Gruha Jyothi, Anna Bhagya, Gruha Lakshmi, and Yuva Nidhi schemes,” he added.

“The allegation made by the Opposition is far from the truth. Voters have rejected the BJP. We were given 136 seats and 43 percent of the votes. Due to their indulgence in corruption, only 66 persons from the BJP could win [the Assembly elections]. They did not come to power with the full blessing of the people. They came to power through the backdoor — through Operation Kamala. [BS] Yeddiyurappa and others are responsible for this. They never came to power through legitimate ways,” Siddaramaiah said.

Also Read: It is people’s responsibility to protect Constitution, says Siddaramaiah

Continued protests

Meanwhile, BJP leaders headed by the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) R Ashoka created a ruckus during the Assembly session on Thursday against the Congress government in Karnataka.

They were protesting over the non-arrest of people who allegedly raised pro-Pakistan sloganeering at the Vidhan Soudha where Congress supporters were celebrating their MP Syed Naseer Hussain’s victory in the Rajya Sabha elections on Tuesday.

The Assembly session’s agenda was the discussion and debate on the state budget. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was on Thursday explaining the details of developments in the guarantee schemes his government had rolled out along with statistics.

The BJP leaders were in no mood to relent and continued with their sloganeering. BJP MLAs milled into the well of the Assembly and attempted to disrupt Assembly proceedings.

Siddaramaiah told the Assembly that his government had filed a police case in connection with the sloganeering, and that an investigation was underway.

The video footage has been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for analysis and the police have conducted inquiries summoning seven people who were part of the crowd in the video and have recorded their statements, he said.

However, the BJP demanded that Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot recommend the dismissal of the government.

“This act of anti-national slogans from Naseer Hussain’s supporters needs to be thoroughly probed by the NIA or IB or other national agencies, and the culprits will be booked under the law and need to be punished,” a delegation led by R Ashoka told the Governor at the Raj Bhavan.

“This government has failed utterly to comply with the law-and-order situation and to uphold the Constitutional values,” he added.

Speaking to reporters, Ashoka alleged that the Congress had been trying to cover up the case as it planned to tamper with the FSL investigation report.

In the Legislative Assembly, Siddaramaiah gave assurances that strict action would be taken against those who chanted the slogans. He added that the government had no intention to protect anyone.

Siddaramaiah continued to ignore the protests — into their second day — and continued with his speech on the budget, even as the BJP leaders chose to walk out of the Assembly.

Siddaramaiah chided them for adamantly walking out of the budget session without a full hearing of the budget, which has not happened in the history of Karnataka politics.

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On BJP and patriotism

Coming down heavily on the BJP, Siddaramaiah said: “The RSS came into existence in 1925, but did not take part in the freedom struggle. When Anantakumar Hegde was the Union minister, he said that his party never came to power to change the Constitution. Neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor party elders took any action regarding this.”

He added: “Even when the freedom struggle intensified, neither [KB] Hedagewar nor [MS] Golwalkar of the Sangh Parivar participated. We don’t need to learn patriotism from the BJP. It is the one that is dividing the country and society in the name of religion. ‘Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas‘ are just slogans. Are such people fit to rule the country?”

“The ruckus created in the Legislative Assembly was to hide the fact that two BJP members supported the Congress in the Rajya Sabha elections,” Siddaramaiah pointed out.

Replying to the debate on the budget in the Assembly session, Siddaramaiah said that he was sure that the people would defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections and give power to the Opposition.

Siddaramaiah said that 30 percent of former chief minister Basavaraja Bommai’s speech on the budget was praise for the Central government.

The JD(S), too, followed the same template, as if it was in a competition, he added.

It was better if JD(S) removed the “S” from the party name because it was no longer secular, he quipped.

Siddaramaiah also asked if the BJP-JD(S) combine was not ashamed to defend the injustice meted out to 7 crore Kannadigas.

Replying to the debate on the budget in the assembly, he said that if the state paid ₹100 as tax, it got back only ₹12 from the Centre. He said the BJP should be ashamed to defend this.