Mangaluru : Senior Congress leader B. Janardhana Poojary on Monday urged members of Parliament from Karnataka to exert collective pressure on the Union government to ensure the state gets its rightful share in the central funds.

Speaking to presspersons here, Mr. Poojary said though the central finance commission had made higher allocation of states’ share, from 35 per cent to 42 per cent, the Central government did not implement the same in the right spirit, at least for Karnataka. The state got at least Rs. 4,000 crore less in the deal while many other states, including Kerala, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh got their dues properly, he said.

As such, members of Parliament should keep aside their political affiliation and work united for the state’s welfare, he suggested.

Heaping praises on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Mr. Poojary said the present rule, particularly after the 2015-16 budgets, reminisces him of the Late Indira Gandhi era. Like Ms. Gandhi, Mr. Siddaramaiah too is waging war against poverty and has made sincere efforts in the budget to address it, he said.

No other Congress government in the country had offered free rice to BPL card-holders but the Karnataka government has done it, Mr. Poojary said and added such a gesture would go a long way in improving the living conditions of people. Similarly, the Chief Minister has substantially increased allocations for various programmes targeted to improve the status of schedule castes, tribes and backward classes, he said.

He has also offered cheap loans to toddy tappers, up to Rs. 2 lakh of which 15 per cent would be government subsidy, Mr. Poojary noted.

Mr. Poojary refuted allegations that the budget was ‘Ahinda budget’, and said Mr. Siddaramaiah has given prominence to that section. Mayor Jacintha Alfred and other leaders were present