"Congress Stands With Separatists": Nirmala Sitharaman On Karnataka Claims
NDTV
"Two years ago, you saw Rahul Gandhi in JNU (Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University). He stood with the tukde-tukde gang. Today, the same slogans have been taken up in Tamil Nadu," Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has refuted Karnataka's claims that the Centre is witholding its share of funds, calling it misleading. She also mad some extremely strong comments, accusing the state's ruling party, the Congress, of trying to shatter the nation's unity."The Congress is with the separatists now.... Two years ago, you saw Rahul Gandhi in JNU (Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University). He stood with the tukde-tukde gang. Today, the same slogans have been taken up in Tamil Nadu and the party is not condemning it. Here also the same language has been taken up with such full-page ads," she said.
The minister's rebuttal came after a Karnataka Congress leader slammed the budget, accusing the Centre of depriving south India of its share of developmental funds and using it to buttress north India. The MP, Congress's DK Suresh Kumar, had even said if the issue was not addressed, the south will have to be a "separate country".
Karnataka's claims are full of "factual errors, false monetary claims, misleading statements, and selective mention of certain losses allegedly suffered without mentioning of the gains that have accrued to the State in the 150 Finance Commission (FC) period," the Centre has asserted in a note it shared with the media.
