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Govt diverting SC/ST funds to guarantees: BJP
Opposition leader R Ashoka criticized the Karnataka government for increasing debt and misusing funds meant for SC/ST welfare to finance guarantee schemes.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, R Ashoka, on Tuesday accused the state government of increasing Karnataka’s debt burden through extensive borrowing and diversion of funds meant for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to finance its guarantee schemes.
Speaking during the debate on demands for grants under the 2026–27 state budget, Ashoka alleged that borrowings undertaken during Siddaramaiah’s earlier tenure and the current term together amounted to ₹4.36 lakh crore, accounting for 52.23% of Karnataka’s total debt. Based on this, he added that the loan burden per resident rose to ₹1,12,400.
He compared these figures with borrowings under previous administrations. Despite the financial strain during the COVID-19 pandemic, borrowing during the tenure of former chief minister BS Yediyurappa amounted to ₹1.63 lakh crore, accounting for 19.61% of the State’s debt, he said. During HD Kumaraswamy’s tenure, it stood at ₹1.01 lakh crore and accounted for 12.15% of the debt, while ₹67,000 crore borrowed under former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai accounted for 8.03%, he added.
Ashok said that the state was now paying around ₹45,600 crore annually towards loan repayment.
“This translates to ₹125 crore a day and ₹5.2 crore an hour,” he added. Tracing the trend over the past decade, Ashok said the loan burden on each resident had risen steadily. The per-capita debt stood at around ₹19,000 in 2013 before Siddaramaiah first assumed office and rose to ₹37,000 by the end of that term, he said.
Ashok added that the per-capita debt stood at ₹76,100 in 2023 before Siddaramaiah returned to office and had increased further to ₹1,12,400 by March 2026. He warned that such borrowing patterns risked pushing the state towards “financial bankruptcy”.
Ashok also accused the government of diverting funds meant for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) to finance its guarantee schemes.
“Today, the money here has been diverted. In this diversion of funds, social justice has been ignored. If the money meant for Dalits is looted, can that be called social justice?” he said.
According to him, about ₹14,198 crore from SCSP and TSP allocations had been used for guarantee schemes during the current financial year.
He said ₹8,296.32 crore had been allocated for the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, ₹1,537 crore for Shakti, ₹1,612 crore for Anna Bhagya, ₹2,591.6 crore for Gruha Jyothi and ₹1,062 crore for Yuva Nidhi. “In total, ₹14,198 crore has been diverted this year,” he said.
Ashok also alleged that such diversion had taken place in earlier years. “In 2023–24, ₹11,144 crore was taken from SC/ST funds. In 2024–25, ₹14,282.68 crore was taken. In 2025–26, ₹13,343.84 crore was taken. In 2026–27, ₹14,198.97 crore has been taken,” he said. “This amount keeps increasing year after year. In total, ₹53,059.45 crore belonging to SC/ST communities has been taken during Siddaramaiah’s tenure,” he added.
He also questioned whether funds allocated in the budget were reaching the intended beneficiaries. Although the budget earmarked ₹44,632 crore for SC/ST welfare in 2026–27, Ashok said the effective amount available would be lower after accounting for diversion to guarantee schemes.Referring to a January 31 review meeting , he said the release and use of funds under SCSP and TSP was limited.
He also criticised the use of SC/ST funds for programmes that he said had little connection to their welfare, including wildlife conservation initiatives, hospital maintenance and information technology policy formulation. “How are Dalits related to wildlife conservation? Are there SC tigers and ST elephants?” he asked.
As of the time of going to print, there was no response from the state government on Ashoka’s comments.
