The Congress government in Karnataka led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will launch a “Chalo Delhi” protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on February 7, against the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, opposing “disparity” in devolution of funds, non-release of compensation for implementing drought relief work and denial of permission to implement irrigation and drinking related projects in the State.
Off to Delhi
Mr. Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar, ministers and legislators of the Congress party of the State left Bengaluru on Tuesday, February 6, evening to stage the protest on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Perhaps, this is for the first time the entire team of State government is protesting against the Centre at the national capital. The State has given full-page advertisements in all major dailies about the protest.
Meanwhile, Mr. Siddaramaiah termed the protest as “apolitical” and wrote letters to members of both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, and Union Ministers from Karnataka, to take part in the protest to “fight for financial justice”. Karnataka incurred losses of ₹1.87 lakh crore from 2017-18 after being denied its due share in devolution of funds, special grants and under the centrally sponsored schemes, the government said. The letter also appealed to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who denied any discrimination in allocation of funds to Karnataka on Monday, to participate in the protest.
The protest under the “#MyTaxMyRight” aimed at drawing the attention of the central government and the people of the country and to protect the interests of the State.
After a patient wait
“It is our duty to do justice to the opportunity given to us by the people of the State. We were waiting patiently for the central government to provide justice in the federal system. We were waiting for them to act as they promised in last year’s budget. The State government is inviting all parties to join the protest and provide justice to Kannadigas. We are protesting to make the Union Government hear our woes,” the chief minister said.
The Union government has declared to provide ₹5,300 crore to the Upper Bhadra scheme in the 2023-24 Union budget and not a single rupee has been released so far, the State government has argued.
The Centre has not released funds for undertaking drought relief. Out of 236 taluks, 223 taluks had been declared drought-hit. The CM said that the Centre had not granted permission to increase the man days to 150 days under the MGNREGA. “This is not a political protest by the Congress party against the BJP. We are organising the protest because it is inevitable. We are protesting against the Central government’s step-motherly treatment,” the Chief Minister said.
Decline in share
Under the 14th Finance Commission (FC) the State’s share was 4.71%. It declined to 3.64% in the 15th FC. According to the estimate, ₹62,098 crore will be reduced in Karnataka’s share, the Chief Minister explained.
