Siddaramaiah govt in 'confrontation mode' with Centre: BJP

Bengaluru: The opposition BJP on Monday accused the Siddaramaiah government of pushing the state and its people into debt and charged that it was in a “confrontation mode” with the Centre. 

Alleging that the government was adopting a ‘two-faced’ approach on farm loan waiver, it said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his teamwere always in a ‘confrontation mode’ with the Centre by pointing a finger towards it on every issue.

“Revenue surplus of the state in 2012-’13 was at Rs 1,880 crore and now it is at Rs 137 crore. We have come to theverge of becoming revenue deficit, despite being surplus fornow, this shows how prudent the financial management of theState is,” BJP member Basavaraj Bommai said in the Assembly. 

Speaking during the debate on the budget, he said the state’s growth once used to be higher than the national growth. 

Industry sector and services sector growth had come down to a single digit for the first time in recent times and also industrial and mega projects clearances haddeclined, impacting Karnataka’s growth, he added. 

Stating that the credibility of the budget is at stake, Bommai, who had served as Water Resources Minister during BJP rule, said implementation of programmes that were announced was not happening effectively on the ground. 

Pointing out that the government was not following financial discipline, Bommai said it had pushed thestate into debt. 

“About six crore people in the state have about Rs 40,000 debt per head,” he added. 

The BJP leader said, “budget size hasincreased, but its credibility has decreased.