BENGALURU: BJP and Dalit Sangarsh Samiti (DSS), a Congress ally, have slammed Karnataka govt for diverting 24.1% of Scheduled Caste Plan and Scheduled Tribe Sub-plan (SCPTSP) funds, amounting to Rs 13,435 crore, to Congress’s five guarantee schemes.
In 2024-25, the Siddaramaiah government diverted Rs 14,283 crore from SCPTSP funds to the five guarantee schemes.
“By diverting funds for the guarantees, the govt is snatching the rights of SC-ST communities,” said BJP’s Chalavadi Narayanswamy, leader of the opposition in Karnataka Legislative Council.
SC-ST representatives held meeting with Siddaramaiah ahead of the budget, but to no avail.
“The diversion of funds towards the guarantee schemes is unacceptable since the law states that SCPTSP funds can only be used for the development of communities and not for populist measures,” said DSS’s Indhudhar Honnapura.
However, senior govt officials justified the diversion of the SCPTSP funds, saying a huge majority of the beneficiaries of the guarantee schemes are members of the SC-ST communities.
