Congress lawmakers to protest in Delhi over 'injustice' to state on Feb 7

Bengaluru: All Congress lawmakers from Karnataka, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, will stage a protest in New Delhi on February 7 against the "injustice" meted out to the state in the Union Budget and on the drought relief.

Announcing the plan on Friday, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar took a dig at the BJP's double-engine campaign, stating the Centre had denied "adequate" allocation to the state even when the BJP was in power in Karnataka. 

"Over the last five years, Karnataka has lost a revenue of about Rs 62,000 crore. Even though the size of the Union Budget has nearly doubled to Rs 45 lakh crore, grants for Karnataka has only gone up a little from Rs 46,000 crore in 2018-2019 to Rs 50,000 crore in 2022-23," Shivakumar said, addressing the reporters. 

Karnataka, he said, is the second highest tax contributor to the country’s exchequer. "The state has, however, received a raw deal in the Union Budget. Even though 25 of the 28 MPs from Karnataka are from the BJP, they haven’t been able to get justice for the state," Shivakumar said.

"Budgetary allocation for Karnataka has come down by 40 to 45% since 2018-19, increasing debt burden on the state. Karnataka was getting a share of 4.71% as per the 14th Finance Commission but it has been reduced to 3.64% in the 15th Finance Commission. The state has lost Rs 62,000 crores due to this reduction," he explained. 

The Centre, he said, had announced Rs 5,200 crore for the Upper Bhadra project but no funds have been released yet. "The state is going through a severe drought but not a single paisa has been released. We had even requested the Centre to increase the number of man-days of MGNREGA from 100 to 150. Nothing has been done on that," the deputy chief minister said. 

He also invited legislators from other parties, including the BJP, to join the protest. "We will reach Delhi on February 6. We will be inviting all the MPs from the state. It is time for us to protect the interest of the state."

Similarly, the CPI (M)-led government of Kerala has also decided to stage a sit-in dharna on February 8.