BJP charge! Siddaramaiah government swindled Rs 35,000 crore

Bengaluru: Training its guns on the Congress, the BJP alleged on Thursday that the last Siddaramaiah  government in the state had misappropriated Rs. 35,000 crore, which was largely unaccounted for in the 2016-17 budget. 

Speaking to reporters here, BJP state general secretary, N. Ravikumar and MLA, Ashwathnarayana said the party would rake up the issue in the winter session of the legislature in Belagavi. 

The BJP leaders claimed former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had released crores of rupees without taking the approval of the state legislature and officers had spent lavishly without being accountable to anyone. 

Referring to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, they said although the  state government had in 2016-17  released Rs 1,43, 341 crore for supply of water to lakes,  there was no evidence of the work being done.

“Where has this huge amount gone?" they demanded, adding that although the then government had procured uniforms for 52,73,028 students, the actual number who benefited were only 47,45,846,  clearly indicating financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 1.27 crore.  Similarly although  Rs 290.98 crore was allocated for modernisation of the police department, only Rs 222.48 crore was spent and there was no account for the remaining Rs. 68.8 crore, they said. 

Likewise there was  misappropriation of funds in the Public Works, health and family welfare, urban development, revenue, housing and other departments, they alleged. 

“Nearly 19 per cent of the budgetary amount has been misappropriated of which Rs. 375 crore is from the water resources department, Rs. 166 crore from the PWD, Rs 54,35,000 crore from the education department and Rs. 249 crore from the  urban development department,” the BJP leaders claimed, urging Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to take action against Mr Siddaramaiah and his former cabinet colleagues for the alleged financial irregularities.