Bengaluru, 12 Oct

Alleging that the Centre has done injustice by allocating less funds to State in the tax devolution, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday said that the government would fight it out.

Shivakumar, also the State Congress Chief, attacked BJP MPs and Union ministers from the State for remaining silent on the issue and termed it "shameful."

" They have given more to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. We were given less than even Andhra Pradesh, which doesn't contribute much in tax," Shivakumar said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "We will formulate a programme to fight for - our tax, our right".

"Why have BJP MPs and Central ministers not raise their voices? Despite having five Central ministers from the State, including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, they remain silent even though injustice is happening to the state. This is shameful," he said.

The Union government on Thursday released tax devolution of Rs 1,78,173 crore to the state governments, including one advance instalment of Rs 89,086.50 crore in addition to the regular instalment due for October 2024.

Karnataka got Rs 6,498 crore in the state-wise distribution of net proceeds of union taxes and duties for October 2024.

Responding to a question on the Opposition's criticism of the term "evil forces" as used in the State government’s advertisements, Shivakumar said, "Based on what we have seen and the information we have, we have tried to express our feelings to the people. I can only say this much now. Let's discuss the rest in the Assembly."

The government's Dasara advertisement in newspapers on Friday read, "May goddess Chamundeshwari bestow upon us the strength to bring peace and prosperity to the people of Karnataka and courage to slay the evil forces that try to destabilise the State with deviousness and deceit."-PTI