The Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka may have a shortage of funds to fulfill the Congress guarantees, but there is no shortage of money for the luxury of MLAs in the assembly. For MLAs, luxurious recliners, massage chairs and high-end office renovation have been approved. Speaker UT Khadar has proposed to set up a smart lock by spending Rs 3 crore in the offices and other offices of MLAs.
The Assembly of Karnataka has rented two massage chairs, each of which is worth about Rs 10,000 per day, as well as 15 recliners have been taken on rent. The rent of a reclineer is Rs 1500 per day. Speaker Khadar can do better work in the assembly, so that this step was necessary and strongly defended his decision. Meanwhile, the roads outside the assembly are filled with pits, drains are jammed and citizens are facing daily infrastructure.
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Vijayanagar MLA HR Gaviappa spoke about the lack of funds for the development of his constituency in November 2024. He expressed disappointment on both Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivkumar. At the same time, BJP leaders accused Jayanagar in Bengaluru of not getting a fund of Rs 10 crore for repair works after the rain. The BJP blamed political bias for this, because the MLA of this constituency belongs to his party.
Fund cry for public work
Congress MLA Raghavendra Hitanal from Koppal also said on January 5, 2025 that necessary development works are being affected due to the expenses incurred on the guarantee schemes of the Congress. Even DK Shivkumar did not deny the financial crisis. Soon after coming to power in Karnataka, Congress MLAs wrote a letter to Siddaramaiah saying that the ministers are not cooperating to get development work in his constituencies. On July 27, 2023, DK Shivkumar had said that all the money is being lost to complete the guarantee schemes, and there is no fund for any new development project.
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It is not that only development projects are stopped. The ‘guarantee plans’ of the Congress in Karnataka are also not running properly. From cash transfer to free ration to women, payment of all schemes is being delayed by two to three months. There is also a lot of resentment towards the Congress government in the beneficiary category. The Siddaramaiah government accused the Center of not releasing funds for this chaos, while the BJP accused the Congress of spending irresponsibly and prioritizing fiscal management.
Party first, public welfare later?
When it comes to public projects, government officials talk about not having funds, but the Congress party has no problem in getting property in the state. The Siddaramaiah government has recently approved the allocation of land at a discounted rate to make the Congress its new party office. BJP leaders criticized the move and questioned that when it comes to the work of the public, the lack of funds is cited, but when it comes to the interests of the party, there is no shortage of funds.
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In September 2023, a few months after coming to power, the Congress government of Karnataka sanctioned Rs 9.9 crore to buy 33 high-end hybrid cars. Every minister had to get a new car. BJP’s Ashwath Narayan said, ‘The Congress government of Karnataka needs to use money for the welfare of the people. Siddaramaiah has been over 2 years to the government and but they are not taking care of the people. All this has become a fashion. It can be said that development work in Karnataka may stop due to lack of funds, but the government is taking full care of its comfort.
(Deepti Rao’s report)