Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has demanded the removal of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from the cabinet. He stated that a Finance Minister who lacks a basic understanding of the budget can be very dangerous. Siddaramaiah urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately remove Sitharaman from the cabinet, stating that retaining her as the Finance Minister could be perilous.
During the press conference, Siddaramaiah criticized the Finance Minister, claiming she attempted to obscure the injustices done to Karnataka by the Modi government. He stated that Sitharaman's misleading statements indicate that the central government provided minimal assistance to Karnataka.
Siddaramaiah pointed out that according to Sitharaman, the previous UPA government (2004-2014) allocated Rs 60,779 crore to Karnataka, while the NDA government (2014-2024) allocated Rs 2,36,955 crore. However, she failed to mention how much the central budget has increased over the past ten years. This raises the question of whether this omission was due to ignorance or a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.
To illustrate, in 2013-2014, the central government's budget was Rs 16.06 lakh crore. At that time, Karnataka was allocated Rs 16,428 crore, with an additional Rs 15,005 crore as its tax share, totaling Rs 31,433 crore, which was 1.9% of the total budget.
In comparison, the central government's budget size for 2024-25 is Rs 48.20 lakh crore. During this period, Karnataka will receive Rs 15,229 crore as a grant and Rs 44,485 crore as its tax share, which is 1.2% of the total budget. If Karnataka were to receive a 1.9% share as it did in 2013-14, the state would get Rs 91,580 crore. Due to this discriminatory attitude of the Modi government, Karnataka will suffer a loss of Rs 31,866 crore in 2024-2025.
The report stated that Finance Minister Sitharaman made misleading statements regarding the increase in Karnataka's tax share from the central government. According to her, Karnataka received Rs 81,791 crore during the UPA government and Rs 2.9 lakh crore during the NDA government (2014-2024).
