CM Siddaramaiah urges removal of Nirmala Sitharaman from Union Cabinet
Bengaluru, Jul 29: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately remove Nirmala Sitharaman from the cabinet, asserting that it is extremely dangerous to have her as the Finance Minister without basic budgetary knowledge.
He emphasised that entrusting the finance portfolio to someone lacking fundamental understanding is a 'highly risky' decision.
The CM while speaking about Nirmala Sitharaman's Sunday press conference criticised the FM for her alleged "desperate attempts to cover up the injustices done to Karnataka by the Modi government".
He noted that Sitharaman's misleading statements ultimately reveal that the central government has provided minimal support to Karnataka.
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"According to Sitharaman, the previous UPA government (2004-2014) granted Karnataka Rs 60,779 crore, whereas the NDA government (2014-2024) provided Rs 2,36,955 crore. However, they have forgotten to mention how much the central government's budget size has increased over the past ten years. Whether this omission is due to ignorance or a deliberate attempt to mislead the public needs to be clarified," a statement shared by the Chief Minister's Office said.
In 2013-14, the central government's budget was Rs 16.06 lakh crore. At that time, Karnataka received Rs 16,428 crore as grants and Rs 15,005 crore as tax share, totalling Rs 31,483 crore, which accounted for 1.9 per cent of the total budget, he pointed out.
In 2024-25, the central government's budget size is Rs 48.02 lakh crore. During this period, Karnataka will receive Rs 15,229 crore as grants and Rs 44,485 crore as the tax share, totaling 1.2 per cent of the budget. If Karnataka were to receive the same 1.9 per cent share as in 2013-14, the state would get Rs 91,580 crore. Due to the unfair treatment by the Narendra Modi government, Karnataka has lost Rs 31,866 crore for 2024-25, he said.
"Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made misleading statements claiming an increase in Karnataka's tax share from the central government. According to her, Karnataka received Rs 81,791 crore during the UPA government and Rs 2.9 lakh crore during the NDA government (2014-2024)."
However, the 14th Finance Commission set Karnataka's tax share at 4.72 per cent, which the 15th Finance Commission reduced to 3.64 per cent, resulting in an estimated loss of Rs 62,098 crore in the tax share alone over the past five years. Sitharaman has attempted to conceal this significant reduction. Grant in aids for 2024-25 is still less than that we received in 2013-14 under UPA, Siddaramaiah said.
He further said that Karnataka ranks second in the country for GST collection and first for GST growth at 17 per cent. Despite this, the state receives only 52 per cent of the collected GST funds. Due to the unscientific implementation of GST, Karnataka lost about Rs 59,274 crore from 2017-18 to 2023-24.
According to Siddaramaiah, in 2023-24, the Centre collected over Rs 4.30 lakh crore from Karnataka in taxes, cesses, and surcharges, but returned only Rs 50-53,000 crore, equating to just Rs 12-13 for every Rs 100 collected, including Rs 37,000 crore in tax share and Rs 13,005 crore for central-sponsored schemes.
"Over the past six years, the union government's budget has nearly doubled. In 2018-19, the budget was Rs 24,42,213 crore, with Karnataka receiving Rs 46,288 crore. By 2023-24, the budget grew to Rs 45,03,097 crore, but Karnataka received only Rs 50,257 crore. Despite the budget doubling, Karnataka's share remained unchanged," he noted.
"After recognising the significant injustice done to Karnataka, the 15th Finance Commission recommended a special grant of Rs 5,495 crore for the state. However, this recommendation was rejected by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is a representative from Karnataka. As a result, Karnataka did not receive the recommended funds," he alleged.
"Due to the central government's discriminatory policies, Karnataka has been deprived of its rightful share of Rs 1,87,867 crore from 2017-18 to the present. This amount is more than half of Karnataka's revised budget size of Rs 3.24 lakh crore. Specifically, it equates to 57 per cent of the current fiscal year's (2024-25) budget. This significant financial loss has occurred since the BJP-led central government took power."
Additionally, the 15th Finance Commission recommended Rs 3,000 crore for Bengaluru's Peripheral Ring Road and Rs 3,000 crore for water resource development, including lakes. However, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rejected these recommendations, resulting in a loss of approximately Rs 11,495 crore for the state, he claimed.
"Over the past ten years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have unjustly allocated taxes and grants to states governed by opposition parties. It is ironic that Nirmala Sitharaman, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha by Karnataka, has acted against the state's interests. Given her actions, she lacks the moral authority to speak about Karnataka's financial status," he added.
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Netanyahu recommends his Cabinet approve Hezbollah cease-fire proposal
Beirut, Nov 26: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would recommend his cabinet adopt a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah, as Israeli warplanes struck across Lebanon, killing at least 23 people.
The Israeli military also issued a flurry of evacuation warnings — a sign it was aiming to inflict punishment on Hezbollah down to the final moments before any ceasefire takes hold. For the first time in the conflict, Israeli ground troops reached parts of Lebanon's Litani River, a focal point of the emerging deal.
In a televised statement, Netanyahu said he would present the ceasefire to Cabinet ministers later on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting.
Netanyahu said the vote was expected later Tuesday. It was not immediately clear when the ceasefire would go into effect, and the exact terms of the deal were not released. The deal does not affect Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, which shows no signs of ending.
The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that previously have not been targeted. The warnings, coupled with fear that Israel was ratcheting up attacks before a ceasefire, sent residents fleeing. Traffic was gridlocked, and some cars had mattresses tied to them. Dozens of people, some wearing their pajamas, gathered in a central square, huddling under blankets or standing around fires as Israeli drones buzzed loudly overhead.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, kept up its rocket fire, triggering air raid sirens across northern Israel.
Lebanese officials have said Hezbollah also supports the deal. If approved by all sides, the deal would be a major step toward ending the Israel-Hezbollah war that has inflamed tensions across the region and raised fears of an even wider conflict between Israel and Hezbollah's patron, Iran.
The deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. Thousands of Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor all sides' compliance.
But implementation remains a major question mark. Israel has demanded the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations. Lebanese officials have rejected writing that into the proposal. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz insisted on Tuesday that the military would strike Hezbollah if the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, doesn't provide “effective enforcement” of the deal.
“If you don't act, we will act, and with great force,” Katz said, speaking with UN special envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Tuesday that Israel's security concerns had been addressed in the deal also brokered by France.
“There is not an excuse for not implementing a ceasefire. Otherwise, Lebanon will fall apart,” Borrell told reporters in Italy on the sidelines of a Group of Seven meeting. He said France would participate on the ceasefire implementation committee at Lebanon's request.
Bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs continues
Even as Israeli, US, Lebanese and international officials have expressed growing optimism over a ceasefire, Israel has continued its campaign in Lebanon, which it says aims to cripple Hezbollah's military capabilities.
An Israeli strike on Tuesday levelled a residential building in the central Beirut district of Basta — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near the city's downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
Three people were killed in a separate strike in Beirut and three in a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. Lebanese state media said another 10 people were killed in the eastern Baalbek province. Israel says it targets Hezbollah fighters and their infrastructure.
Earlier, Israeli jets struck at least six buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs. One strike slammed near the country's only airport, sending plumes of smoke into the sky. The airport has continued to function despite its location on the Mediterranean coast next to the densely populated suburbs where many of Hezbollah's operations are based.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in the suburbs, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where UNIFIL is headquartered.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told The Associated Press that peacekeepers will not evacuate.
Other strikes hit in the southern city of Tyre, where the Israeli military said it killed a local Hezbollah commander.
The Israeli military also said its ground troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani River, a few kilometres from the Israeli border.
Previous ceasefire hopes were dashed
Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the strongest Iranian-backed force in the region, would likely significantly calm regional tensions that have led to fears of a direct, all-out war between Israel and Iran. It's not clear how the ceasefire will affect the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah had long insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it dropped that condition.
Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have been exchanging barrages ever since.
Israel escalated its campaign of bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes.
More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members.
Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country's north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon.
After previous hopes for a ceasefire were dashed, U.S. officials cautioned that negotiations were not yet complete and noted there could be last-minute hitches that delay or destroy an agreement.
“Nothing is done until everything is done,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
While the ceasefire proposal is expected to be approved if Netanyahu brings it to a vote in his security Cabinet, one hard-line member, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he would oppose it. He said on X that a deal with Lebanon would be a “big mistake” and a “missed historic opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah.”
