Members of the Opposition and ruling parties in the Assembly on Saturday indulged in heated exchanges on alleged discrimination in allocation of funds to constituencies by the State government. This resulted in Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa assuring the Opposition that he would not discriminate in terms of allocation of funds on party basis.
While the Opposition accused the government of discrimination in allocation of funds and demanded release of funds for already sanctioned works, ruling members said they had been denied funds during the Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy.
Speaking on the State Budget in the Legislative Assembly, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah demanded an assurance from the Chief Minister on rectifying the alleged injustice meted out to the Congress and JD(S) members in allocation of funds to their constituencies in Bengaluru and rest of the State.
When many members stood up seeking higher allocation, Mr. Yediyurappa promised that he would not discriminate among legislators on party lines.
While some Congress members, including Krishna Byre Gowda, Ramalinga Reddy and Sowmya Reddy, alleged cut in funds to their constituencies after the BJP came to power, some more Congress members, including P.T. Parameshwara Naik, Bheema Naik, G.N. Ganesh, and E Thukaram, alleged stoppage of funds for sanctioned works.
BJP members Arvind Limbavali and Satish Reddy alleged that their constituencies had not been provided any funds during the rule of the coalition government.
Mr. Reddy said funds to 11 constituencies represented by the Congress in the city had been reduced from ₹3,752.77 crore to ₹943.68 crore, while to constituencies represented by BJP it increased from ₹1,671.55 crore to ₹3,499.63 crore after the BJP government assumed office.
Funds to JD(S) constituencies in the city had been cut from ₹952.95 crore to ₹52.65 crore, while constituencies of disqualified MLAs bagged ₹2,778.60 crore, Mr. Ramalinga Reddy said.
Mr. Kumaraswamy said that in the past too the ruling parties legislators had been allocated more funds and read out allocation of funds to 28 constituencies in the city during 2013-19.
