Bengaluru, Apr 7 (DHNS): Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Dinesh Gundu Rao has challenged BJP leaders for a discussion on the issue of allocation of funds to the State by the Centre.

Rao, who is also the AICC spokesman, on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was misleading the country by saying that the states had received more funds.

“Let any BJP leader come for a discussion on this issue, we are ready to prove our point. Modi is saying whatever is advantageous to him,” he said.

While the BJP has been arguing that there has been a 10 per cent increase in allocation of funds to states by the 14th Finance commission, the State says that while increasing the allocation, grants for various sectors have been reduced considerably.

Rao said the allocations for various prime sectors had been reduced. If the State BJP is planning to move a privilege motion against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the Congress will consider moving a privilege motion against the prime minister in the Lok Sabha, he said.

The minister said that due to the revised methodology of calculation, the Gross State Domestic Product, which was Rs 7.9 lakh crore during the term of the 13th Finance commission, has reduced to Rs 7.36 lakh crore during the term of the 14th Finance commission.

“This has reduced the borrowing space by Rs 1,504 crore. The State’s share in the Central taxes has increased by Rs 8,230 crore. Despite this, the grant for Central schemes to the State has reduced to Rs 8,146 crore in 2015-16. It was Rs 16,626 crore in 2014-15.

"The Finance commission grants had been reduced to Rs 1,772 in 2015-16 from Rs 3,509 in 2014-15. All these factors had reduced the allocation by Rs 3,491 crore" Rao said.