BAGALKOT: Rebutting the allegations of BJP that CM Siddaramaiah, who also holds the Finance portfolio, has borrowed indiscriminately to implement the five guarantee schemes, Siddaramaiah on Saturday claimed that the borrowings were well within the set parameters of the budget.
Addressing reporters before participating in the Congress campaign here, he said as per the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2002, the state government could borrow up to 3% of the total GDP.
“Our budget is certainly well within that range and the Congress government has never violated that norms. But the BJP, which perhaps has not read the budget or has no idea of the norms, is making baseless allegations on the financial status of Karnataka,” he said.
Siddaramaiah reminded the state BJP leaders that the borrowing limit is fixed by the Centre and not by the state government.
Claiming that Karnataka’s GDP is better than that of the country under the BJP-led NDA rule, Siddaramaiah said India’s GDP is 7.14% compared to the state’s 8.1%. Let the BJP decide whose GDP is bigger, Karnataka’s or India’s. Stating that till 2014, the country’s borrowings amounted to around Rs 54 lakh crore, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi alone borrowed Rs 165 lakh crore till the current fiscal year after becoming PM in 2014.
To a question, he said that it was the Manmohan Singh government that launched the Food Security Act to ensure affordable ration to poor people. The BJP’s claim that the Modi government is giving free ration to Karnataka is wrong as the Act was passed by the UPA government.
“When I became CM for the first time, my government launched a scheme to offer 7kg rice at Re 1/kg under PDS. But when the BJP came to power, it reduced the quantity to 5kg. You should ask the BJP why it reduced the quantity of rice,” he said.
Siddaramaiah said instead of misleading the people over the development of the state under the Congress rule, the BJP leaders should tell what were their government’s achievements. They should tell people how many poll promises they have fulfilled. “We have fulfilled all five guarantees promised to them. This will help our candidate secure an easy victory in this by-election,” he said.