Congressman Starts New Debate About Budget, Calls For South To Be Its Own Nation

“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,” DK Suresh Kumar, a member of the Congress

Bengaluru: Shortly after the interim budget was presented today, a Karnataka Congress leader charged that the central government was denying south India its fair part of development money and instead utilizing them to support the north. Congress MP DK Suresh Kumar stated that the south might have to become a “separate country” if the problem is not resolved. The party was charged by the BJP of having a polarizing mindset.

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of Bengal, has been complaining to the Congress, which took over Karnataka last year, that the state isn’t getting its fair amount of government funding.

Mr. Kumar stated, “We want to receive our money,” alleging that “injustice at every stage” and “all matters” are being served to south India. We want to get paid what is rightfully ours—whether it is through direct taxes, customs duties, or the GST—because north India is receiving more of the money allocated to development.

“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 stated to reporters.

Chaluvadi Narayanaswamy of the BJP stated that the Congress is considering “Bharat Todo (break)” as opposed to “Bharat Jodo.”

“This nation is being divided by the thinking of Congress. It was also done in 1947. This Bharat Jodo that Rahul Gandhi is promoting talks of splitting India into north and south. He has sworn to protect the Constitution and maintain national unity. What is this, now?” He stated.

The state Congress published a white paper earlier this month in which it claimed that even though Karnataka is one of the main forces behind India’s economic success, the state is receiving little support from the federal government.

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Karnataka paid ₹ 2.25 lakh crore in corporate and other taxes in 2023–24, while the state Congress spokesperson, M Lakshmana, stated that the state could only anticipate ₹ 37,252 crore in tax devolution.

Although the state may have expected only ₹ 13,005 crore, its GST contribution was almost ₹ Rs 1.4 lakh crore.

According to Mr. Lakshmana, Karnataka was expected to receive ₹ 50,257 crore overall, rather than the ₹ 1 lakh crore it was entitled to, despite earning over ₹ 4 lakh crore through various taxes.

Similar grievances have previously been lodged by Kerala and, more recently, by the MK Stalin-led DMK government in Tamil Nadu.

The Karnataka Congress administration said earlier this month that it was uniting against the “skewed” distribution of taxes by the Center. According to officials, the state’s portion of taxes decreased during the current Finance Commission, from 4.71% to 3.64%.