Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashok on Tuesday claimed that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s “indiscriminate borrowing” had resulted in every individual in Karnataka having a loan burden of ₹1,12,400.
With a total borrowing of ₹4.36 lakh crore during his earlier and present stint, Mr. Siddaramaiah would account for 52.23% of the State’s total debt, Mr. Ashok alleged, while participating in a debate on demand for grants for various departments under the State Budget.
Earlier CMs
Despite the compulsion to borrow during the COVID period, the then BJP Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s borrowing of ₹1.63 lakh crore had accounted for 19.61%, while ₹1.01 lakh crore borrowings of former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy accounted for 12.15% and ₹67,000 crore borrowing of Basavaraj Bommai had accounted for 8.03%, he claimed.
The three years’ borrowings since the Congress returned to power in 2023 itself accounted for ₹2.46 lakh crore, which would translate into ₹227 crore a day and ₹9.5 crore an hour, he pointed out.
