Karnataka isn't begging to fund guarantees: Siddaramaiah tells Nirmala

Bengaluru, Mar 25 Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has expressed discontent with the actions of the Finance Ministry, headed by Nirmala Sitharaman, regarding the allocation of funds to the state as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission (15FC).
He accused Sitharaman of consistently denying the recommendations made by the 15FC, which were aimed at ensuring that no state receives a lower share in devolution compared to the previous year.
"One expects the country’s Finance Minister to speak the truth. Unfortunately, she has been consistently denying the written word. The interim report of the 15 FC for 2020-21 sanctioned Rs 6764 crores for three states, viz Karnataka (Rs 5495 crores), Telangana (Rs 723 crores) & Mizoram (Rs 546 crores).
"These grants were recommended not because of any special love for these states. These were recommended to ensure that no state receives a lower share in devolution in absolute numbers than the previous year," Siddaramaiah said.
He also stated that Karnataka was allocated Rs 6,764 crores in the interim report, but the final report reduced it to Rs 6,000 crores, with specific allocations for water body revival and infrastructure projects being denied by the Finance Ministry.
"The Ministry of Finance under the leadership of Mrs Nirmala Sitaraman refused to accept these two recommendations thus denying the rightful share for Karnataka," Karnataka CM added.
Siddaramaiah asserted that Karnataka is not seeking funds beyond what is allocated in its budget but demands its rightful share as recommended by the Finance Commission.
"Smt @nsitharaman avare, we are not asking for funds for our 5 Guarantees. We have adequate provision for those in our budget, thank you," Karnataka CM said taking to X.
Siddaramaiah accused Sitharaman of lacking faith in the federal polity enshrined in the Constitution and failing to understand the concept of rightful state shares.
"Since you don’t seem to have any faith in or commitment to the federal polity enshrined in our Constitution, you don’t seem to understand the concept of rightful share of the states. Kannadigas demand their share. They are not begging," he said.