BENGALURU: Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Monday alleged that Union Finance Minister Niramala Sitaraman, in an action report tabled in the Parliament on January 30, 2020, has asked the 15th Finance Commission to reconsider its recommendation of Rs 5,495 crore as special grant for financial year 2020-21 to Karnataka.
“Sitharaman, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, is being unfair in the allocation of tax to the state. Is the FM, who is coming to Mysuru on March 31, ready for an open discussion about this,” Gowda asked.
On the pending GST tax share to the state, Sitharaman on Sunday had stated that “there is no pending tax share due to Karnataka”. Replying to her at a press conference Gowda alleged that she has been “trying to confuse Kannadigas”.
The Finance Commission has recommended Rs 5,495 crore in its report for 2019-20, and Rs 6,000 crore for the state for 2021-26, and hence, the Centre has to release Rs 11,495 crore, he urged.
In 2019-20, the state received Rs 36,675 crore as tax share and the trend should have been upward, but it declined to Rs 31,180 crore for 2020-21. Thus, the state incurred a loss to the tune of Rs 5,495 crore, and the Finance Commission has recommended that the Centre should provide special grants.
In aggregate, the FC has recommended Rs 6,764 crore to three states, including Karnataka (Rs 5,495 crore), Mizoram(Rs 546 crore) and Telangana (Rs 723 crore), which incurred the losses, he pointed out. Sitharaman accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of lying, but in fact, when Yediyurappa was the CM, he had met her on September 17, 2020, and requested to release the special grant. Yediyurappa’s successor Basavaraj Bommai also wrote to her.