The Congress-ruled Karnataka government has kicked off its ‘Chalo Delhi’ protest in New Delhi against the Centre over issues such as reduced tax devolution and unproportionate resource distribution, among others. The entire Karnataka Ministry, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, is staging a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar today (February 7).

The agitation is seeing the participation of all Congress legislators and MPs from the state, including ministers. The chief minister has also invited Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (Rajya Sabha member) and Pralhad Joshi to the protest, citing that the struggle was against the “injustice” caused to the state, and not against the saffron party.

The protestors demand that the Centre set right the losses allegedly incurred by Karnataka to the tune of Rs 1.87 lakh crore, during five years under the 15th finance commission.

“Let us raise our voice against the economic oppression of Karnataka by the central government. Let’s protest for our right by participating in large numbers in Dharni Satyagraha tomorrow at Jantar Mantar, Delhi,” Siddaramaiah posted on X.

What is the protest about?

Siddaramaiah had said the protest was aimed at attracting the attention of the central government and the people of the country towards the state’s concerns. “So far the state had never staged a protest in Delhi, but due to “unavoidable reasons”, a situation has come now, for it to do so,” he said.

According to the Congress, the agitation is aimed at countering the BJP by raising the issue of regional pride and “injustice” to the state by the party-led NDA government. The party also accused the centre of “stepmotherly” treatment of Karnataka and “disrespecting” the federal structure.

“As the budget size doubled, it was expected that the state’s tax share would also double. However, it has been reduced by more than half. Furthermore, cess and surcharge have been consistently increasing each year, with not a single rupee being returned to the states, even though both cess and surcharge are collected by the states themselves. This consistent decline in the state’s share highlights a growing injustice towards Karnataka,” CM Siddaramaiah said.

The senior Congress leader also said environmental clearance and necessary permissions for the Mahadayi and Mekedatu projects are still pending.

Furthermore, the CM noted that before GST, Karnataka’s tax collection growth was at 15 per cent. He alleged that the Centre discontinued the compensation given to states to make up for potential losses after the implementation of GST. “Karnataka, the second-highest tax collector after Maharashtra, contributes a significant Rs 4,30,000 crore in tax revenue. However, the state receives only around Rs 12-13 out of every Rs 100 in taxes, with the rest held by the Union Government,” he further alleged.

The Congress stalwart also alleged that the tax share allocated to Karnataka reduced from 4.71 per cent under the 14th Finance Commission (2015-2020), to 3.64 per cent by the 15th Finance Commission (2020-2025). “This 1.07 per cent decrease resulted in an estimated loss of Rs 62,098 crore for Karnataka over five years. To compensate, the 15th Finance Commission recommended a special grant of Rs 5,495 crore for Karnataka in the interim budget, which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman subsequently declined,” Siddaramaiah said. Adding the proposals for lake and water body development and peripheral ring road projects (Rs 3,000 crore each), altogether, Karnataka missed out on a total of Rs 73,593 crore, he added.

Out of the total 236 taluks of Karnataka, 223 taluks are said to be drought ridden, with 123 of them severely affected. In a social media post, the CM said his government has requested a compensation of Rs 17,901 crore from the Centre, even as the actual loss incurred by the state due to crop damage stands at Rs 35,000 crore. “They have not released anything for drought relief either,” he wrote in the post.

Centre denies bias against Karnataka

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi rejected Siddaramaiah’s charges of reduced tax devolution share by Centre.

In a post on X, Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday said, “Karnataka CM’s accusations lack any solid grounds. They are so unfounded that their own party must be laughing at the sheer ignorance in CM’s hollow allegations, after CM Siddaramaiah has presented 13 state budgets in the past, and is expected to understand how public finances work. Nevertheless, let me remind him: States receive 100 per cent of their SGST, and approx. 50 per cent of the IGST collected within the state.”

Pralhad Joshi informed that the 15th Finance Commission did not recommend a Special Grant to be made to any State. “Thus, the question of not accepting the recommendation does not arise. Since FY 2020-21, Rs 6279.94 crore has been provided as 50-year interest-free loans to assist capital expenditure plans to Karnataka Grants in Aid to Karnataka have increased substantially compared to the 10 years of UPA. Rs 2.08 lakh crore has already been released in the 9 years of NDA, which is an increase of 243 per cent over the grants of UPA,” Pralhad Joshi said.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has also come down heavily on allegations that the Centre is withholding funds meant for non-BJP governed states including Karnataka, saying it is a “politically-vitiated narrative” that “vested interests” are happy to go about saying so.

“This apprehension that some states are being discriminated against is a politically-vitiated narrative which, I am sorry to say, vested interests are happy to go about saying,” she said on Monday, adding that no Union finance minister can play with the Finance Commission’s recommendations.

(With inputs from agencies)