Mysuru MP Pratap Simha on Saturday lashed out at former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for his recent outbursts against the Centre and questioned his knowledge on the country’s economic scenario.
Mr Siddaramaiah had hit out at the Modi government for what he called the declining economic situation of the country, at the recent Congress’ Chintan Shivir in Udaipur.
“How can Mr Siddaramaiah talk about the country’s economy with a qualification in law,” Mr. Simha asked.
Addressing presspersons here, he said, while responding to Mr Siddaramaiah’s reported comments over the quantum of Central funds to the State and the “injustice to the State” on the State’s share in GST, he said that Mr. Siddaramaiah lacks knowledge on financial matters despite presenting the State budget for 13 times.
“The regime under Mr. Siddaramaiah took more loans than the loans availed from the time of Kengal Hanumanthaiah to Jagadish Shettar. How can a person with knowledge in law talk about the country’s economy?” he asked.
On the issue of distribution of subsidised PDS rice, Mr. Simha asked, “Who gave rice for ₹3 a kg to the State when Mr. Siddaramaiah was the CM after subsidising ₹29 a kg of rice.”
“The rice that his regime got at ₹3 a kg was distributed at ₹1 a kg to the PDS beneficiaries with further subsidy. Who actually subsidized the rice to the extent of ₹29 a kg? Is it not taxpayers’ money,” he asked.
Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his largesse to the State, Mr. Simha claimed that the NDA government under Mr. Modi gave several projects to the State. It could be the expansion of Mysuru-Bengaluru highway, Mysuru airport expansion, Mysore-Madikeri highway development or ₹150 crore grant to All India Institute of Speech and Hearing here for establishing the Center of Excellence, and ink manufacturing plant for note printing.
“All these are the contributions of the Modi government,” the MP maintained, while listing out the achievements of the NDA government in the last eight years.
