Congress MP sparks row raising ‘separate country’ for South India

Bengaluru: A Karnataka Congress leader said south India will have to be a ‘separate country’, if Centre deprives the region of its share of funds.

Congress MP DK Suresh Kumar accused the Centre of using developmental funds to only buttress the north.

The Opposition BJP hit back terming the Congress leader’s remark of a divisive mentality.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal also previously complained that the state did not receive its share of central funds.

‘If we don't condemn this in the upcoming days, we will have to place a demand for a separate country as a result of situation the Hindi-speaking region has forced on us,’ Kumar was quoted as saying.

Kumar said: ‘we want to receive our money. Whether it is the GST, Custom or Direct taxes, we want to receive our rightful share... our share of money for development is getting distributed to north India’.

The BJP's Chaluvadi Narayanaswamy said the Congress is not carrying out ‘Bharat Jodo’ but ‘Bharat Todo’( break), adding that the ‘Congress mindset is dividing this country’.

‘They did it in 1947 too. When Rahul Gandhi is doing this Bharat Jodo, these people are talking about dividing north India and south India. He has taken oath to uphold the Constitution and keep the country together. Now, what is this?’, he reportedly said.

The state Congress earlier alleged in a white paper that Karnataka gets little from the Centre despite being a driver of India’s growth story.

Kerala earlier raised similar complaints and more recently, the DMK government in Tamil Nadu accused the Centre of neglect.