The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has trained its guns on former Chief Minister and coalition coordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah ahead of the legislature session in Belagavi. On Thursday, the party alleged that there was a mismatch of ₹35,000 crore between receipts and expenditure during 2016-17 when the Congress leader was Chief Minister and held the finance portfolio.
Saying that such a revelation had been made in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on the State’s finances for the year ending March 2017, BJP State general secretary Ravikumar and others demanded that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy take action against his predecessor for “financial mismanagement”.
The executive summary of the CAG report states that as against the total provision of ₹1,86,052 crore in 2016-17, an expenditure of ₹1,73,045 crore was incurred, resulting in an unspent provision of ₹13,007 crore (7%).
It also said non-reconciliation of expenditure was to the extent of 19% of the total expenditure. The BJP interpreted the quantum as ₹35,000 crore.
Mr. Ravikumar alleged that such revelations pointed to the “personal interests” of the then Chief Minister. He also referred to the CAG report which stated that certain amounts drawn from the Consolidated Fund had been deposited in the bank accounts of implementing agencies.
There were also references to direct theft from the treasury and misuse to the extent of ₹18.11 crore in the report, he said.
Referring to Prime Minister Narenndra Modi’s remarks before the 2018 Assembly polls that the Siddaramaiah regime was a “10% commission” government, Mr. Ravikumar said the CAG report substantiated this claim.