“I belong to Akhand Bharat. India is one. He (Suresh) has only expressed people’s views. People are thinking that they are being ignored. He has only spoken about the injustice happening to people,” the Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister said, adding that the BJP-led government didn’t make any significant announcements for the southern states.

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“DK Suresh or any other leader have spoken of the pain of South India… There has to be a balance. The entire country is one… You cannot only look at the Hindi belt… In this budget, there is no equal distribution of finances…,” news agency ANI quoted Sivakumar as saying.

The Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister claimed the state hasn’t been receiving much revenue from the central government despite contributing significantly to the national exchequer.

“Karnataka has been giving a lot of revenue to the Centre… For the entire South India, no major announcement has been made…We feel like we have been let down. But the entire country is one. We are Indians. India should be united. There is no question of demanding anything region-wise,” he added.

Earlier in the day, reacting to the Interim Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament, DK Suresh— Congress MP from Bengaluru Rural— claimed that the taxes collected from southern states were being distributed to North India, and Hindi was being ‘imposed’ on South India in every aspect.

“This is the election budget. In the interim budget, only names have been changed. They have introduced some Sanskrit names and Hindi names of schemes. The Centre is not properly giving the right share of GST and direct taxes to South Indian states. The South Indian states are facing injustice. The money collected from southern states is being given to North Indian states,” the Congress MP claimed.

The separate country demand

The Congress MP from Bengaluru Rural said the southern states will be forced to demand a separate country if the alleged injustice continues.

“Our demand is that we must get our share of GST, Customs from our state and direct taxes. We have been witnessing a lot of injustice to South India…we are seeing our share of the money being distributed in North India,” DK Suresh said.

“If this continues, we will be forced to demand a separate country. The Centre is getting over ₹4 lakh crore from us and what we are getting in return is negligible. We have to question this. If this is not rectified, all southern states have to raise their voices demanding a separate nation,” he added.

However, the grand old party distanced itself from the comment.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said “Separate nationhood to south India cannot be asked for. The sovereignty should prevail.”

However, he said “injustice” was happening vis-a-vis tax devolution.

Former finance minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram said, “It is not the policy of the Congress party or the position of the Congress party to ask for a separate country that I can deny. For the rest, you have to ask Mr Suresh.”

However, the statement from the Congress leader drew sharp criticism from the BJP leaders with BJP MP Tejasvi Surya accusing DK Suresh of playing a ‘trick’ to divide the country.

“While the Congress Party has a history of ‘Divide and Rule’, its MP Sri @DKSureshINC plays the trick again now, wanting the North and South to be divided…Let’s consider the matter of the tax devolution to Karnataka in recent years. The tax devolution to Karnataka during UPA-2 from 2009-14 stood at ₹53,396 crore, whereas Tax devolution during 2014-19 under PM Narendra Modi crossed 1.35 lakh crore,” Surya said in a post on X.