Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar defended his brother Congress MP D.K. Suresh‘s perspective of separate nationhood for southern states, saying it was meant to condemn the discrimination being meted out to southern states in the budgetary allocation by the Centre.
Speaking to the mediapersons at Kalaburagi Airport on Saturday, Mr. Shivakumar said that the huge taxes collected from Karnataka are being disproportionately distributed to the north Indian states. In fact, the Centre is getting over ₹4 lakh crore as taxes, and getting back only ₹50,000 crore, the BJP-led government at Centre had failed to release drought relief to Karnataka and the BJP leaders and MPs from the State have maintained a studied silence as they did not have guts to raise their voice against the Centre. The BJP leaders should introspect their failure, Mr. Shivakumar added.
“Mr. Suresh had expressed concern over the disparity meted out to Karnataka by the Central government in granting funds, Mr. Shivakumar asserted, while emphasizing his commitment to the unity of India.” He reiterated that Congress never supports division of the country as Congress leaders have sacrificed their lives to preserve the country’s unity.
