Karnataka DCM DK Shivakumar questions FM Nirmala Sitharaman about ‘promised’ funds to Upper Bhadra project

Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar responded to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Parliament speech on Monday, where the latter said that she cannot deliberately stop allocating funds to one state. Shivakumar called the Finance Minister ‘intelligent’ and asked why she skipped funds for the Upper Bhadra irrigation project after promising. He also said that the Union Finance Minister will have all the powers to allocate funds to states based on the recommendations from her office.

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Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, DK Shivakumar said, “The central government has ignored many things about Karnataka. Let me be specific and tell you all one thing. Before the assembly elections, Nirmala Sitharaman ji had announced ₹5,300 crores for the crucial Upper Bhadra irrigation project in Karnataka. Why did she not release those funds to date? Can she please answer this?”

Shivakumar also said that as a Union Finance Minister, she has all the rights to do what she has promised. “Nirmala ji is from Karnataka, and she is an ‘intelligent’ minister. She needs to think about her state, and nobody will stop her from fulfilling promises to her state. The Finance Minister has the power to release funds based on the recommendations,” he added.

He also asked why she did not announce something like Gujarat’s GIFT city to Karnataka. “For Gujarat, they announced a GIFT city with huge rounds of funds. Why did they not announce such projects to Karnataka?” added the deputy CM.

After opposition parties slammed the BJP for ignoring south Indian states in the interim Budget, FM Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said, “This is just not a possibility that any finance minister can intervene to say that ‘I don’t like this state, stop payment’. No way. It can’t happen that way. The system is well placed,”

Meanwhile, the Karnataka unit of the Congress party, including all MLAs, MPs, and MLCs, will hold a protest against the BJP in New Delhi on February 7 for not giving enough funds to the southern state. Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, who called it a ‘stepmotherly treatment’, will lead the protest in the national capital.