Bengaluru: The Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa-led state government has decided to reduce the funds, allocated by the erstwhile Congress-JD(S) coalition government, to the Mandya, Hassan and Ramanagara districts, according to a report by TOI.
Reportedly, the funds will instead be redistributed among those districts that initially received smaller grants.
Opposition leaders have alleged that the government’s decision was motivated by ‘vendetta politics’, while the BJP leaders have insisted that the reallocation of funds was carried out to ensure that all the districts are treated equally.
Sources within the Chief Minister’s Office informed TOI that an abnormal amount of funds had been allocated to the districts represented by former CM H D Kumaraswamy and his family members. The former CM’s constituency (Ramanagara) is said to have received a grant of nearly Rs 80 crores, despite being eligible for only about Rs 10 to 25 crores.
The sources also mentioned that the grants had been provided by the Urban Development, Rural Development and Public Works departments.
Stating that the government’s only aim was to bring parity between the districts, Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan said, “Development cannot be limited to only VIP constituencies.”
Commenting on the decision, JD(S) MLA A T Ramaswamy said, “We are hoping that there won’t be a major reduction in fund allocation for us to protest.”
Meanwhile, the state government officials have stated that no project that has already begun, will be disrupted by this change.
