FM Counters Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Allegations Of Discrimination Against Karnataka

A war of words erupted between Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. The Congress leader claimed that non-BJP-ruled states were being discriminated by the Centre government and were being denied their financial dues. Hitting back at these allegation, the Finance Minister said the centre had no role in fixing the allocation for states and it was solely decided by the Finance Commission after dialogue with all states and other participants. In a strong reply, the finance minister called the apprehension “a politically vitiated narrative which vested interests are happy to encourage”. Nirmala Sitharaman indirectly slammed the political ‘freebies’ being doled out by Karnataka asking why the state’s finances changed from “hunky-dory” 6 months ago to the precarious situation they were in now.