Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during Legislative Assembly session at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Launching a counter attack on the Opposition BJP that has accused him of plunging the State into a debt trap, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday (March 13, 2025) alleged that the country’s loan burden had increased rapidly from ₹53,11,000 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed the office in 2014-15 to ₹200,01,000 now.
Intervening during the debate on State budget in the Assembly, the CM said that the Modi government’s borrowings for this year alone had touched about ₹15,00,000 crore.
“This is the truth and the truth will never be sweet, but bitter. This being the case, you are trying to accuse me of increasing the State’s loan burden. You better shun your audacity,” Mr. Siddaramaiah told the BJP members.
No violation of norms
Countering the Opposition’s allegations that the State’s loan burden had increased rapidly under his regime, Mr. Siddaramaiah maintained that he had not violated any norms while borrowing.
“The Fiscal Responsibility Act that prescribes guidelines with respect to borrowings says that the healthy financial condition is determined by three factors – the state should be revenue surplus, the fiscal deficit should be less than 3% and the loans should be within 25% of GSDP,” he pointed out.
“We have followed the two parameters, but could not ensure revenue surplus,” the chief minister said. At the same time, he maintained that the revenue deficit level had reduced from ₹27,000 crore during last year to ₹19,200 crore now. He declared that the State would become revenue surplus by next financial year, allaying fears that its finances were in a bad condition.
He said the State’s fiscal deficit was 2.91%, well within the norms of being under 3%, and the borrowings were also at 24.95% of GSDP as against the norms of being under 25%.
Central budget is the basis for State budget
Countering the argument of BJP members that the debate on Central budget was irrelevant in the state Assembly, the chief minister said: “We cannot brush aside the Central budget as a subject that should be discussed only in the Parliament because Central budget is the basis for the State budget. In fact, we give revenues to the tune of ₹1.16 lakh crore to the Centre and in return get only ₹51,000 crore.”
Mr. Siddaramaiah’s reference to the Central budget in a negative manner, particularly with respect to borrowings, triggered angry responses from the BJP, with Leader of the Opposition R. Ashok arguing that it would be better if the CM either contests Lok Sabha elections, becomes MP and raises the issue in Lok Sabha or advises Congress MPs in Karnataka to raise the issue. This is simply because Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman cannot come to this House to reply to you,” Mr. Ashok observed.
Published – March 13, 2025 06:30 pm IST
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