Congress MP Sparks Fresh Row Over Budget, Demands Separate Country For South

A Karnataka Congress leader, shortly after the presentation of the interim budget today, accused the Centre of depriving south India of its share of developmental funds and using it to buttress the north. If the issue is not addressed, the south will have to be a "separate country", said Congress MP DK Suresh Kumar. The BJP accused the party of having a divisive mentality.

The Congress, which came to power in Karnataka last year, has been echoing Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's complaint of not receiving the state's share of central funds.

Alleging that south India is being served "injustice at every stage", and "all matters", Mr Kumar said, "We want to receive our money. Whether it is the GST, Custom or Direct taxes, we want to receive our rightful share... our share of money for development is getting distributed to north India".

"If we don't condemn this in the upcoming days, we will have to place a demand for a separate country as a result of  situation the Hindi-speaking region has forced on us," he told reporters.

The BJP's Chaluvadi Narayanaswamy said the Congress is looking at "Bharat Todo (break)," instead of "Bharat Jodo".

"The Congress mindset is dividing this country. They did it in 1947 too. When Rahul Gandhi is doing this Bharat Jodo, these people are talking about dividing north India and south India. He has taken oath to uphold the Constitution and keep the country together. Now, what is this?" he said.

Earlier this month, the state Congress released a white paper, alleging that though Karnataka is the one of the drivers of India's growth story, it is getting little by way of returns from the Centre.

State Congress spokesperson M Lakshmana said while Karnataka's contribution under corporate and other taxes was to the tune of Rs 2.25 lakh crore for 2023-24, it could only expect Rs 37,252 crore by way of tax devolution.

The state's GST contribution was around Rs Rs 1.4 lakh crore, but could expect only Rs 13,005 crore.

Despite generating about Rs 4 lakh crore through various taxes, Karnataka was likely to receive Rs 50,257 crore in all, instead of the Rs 1 lakh crore it deserved, Mr Lakshmana said.

Similar complaints have come earlier from Kerala and more recently, the DMK government led by MK Stalin in Tamil Nadu.

Earlier this month, Karnataka's Congress government indicated that it was forming a bloc against the Centre's "skewed" devolution of taxes. Officials said the state's share of taxes came down from 4.71 per cent to 3.64 per cent under the current Finance Commission.