Karnataka government showered money on ‘National Herald’, gave a lot of advertisements; reader is zero

The Karnataka government reportedly gave more advertising to the Congress party’s newspaper, National Herald, than to any other national daily. The surprising thing is that this newspaper has neither any circulation nor readership in the state, yet this newspaper has received more funds than the big national dailies.

How much did Karnataka government spend on National Herald?

According to government records, crores of rupees were allegedly paid to National Herald from the state government’s advertising budget. According to reports, in the last two consecutive years, the government has given the maximum amount to National Herald in the advertising expenditure of national newspapers in Karnataka.

In the year 2023-24, the Karnataka government gave advertisements of about Rs 1 crore 90 lakh to National Herald, whereas in the year 2024-25 this amount was Rs 99 lakh. In the year 2024-25, the Congress government of Karnataka spent a total of Rs 1 crore 42 lakh on advertisements in national dailies, of which about 69 percent went to the account of National Herald.

Crores of rupees were paid to National Herald.

BJP said ‘open loot’

After this information came to light, opposition party BJP has accused Congress of misusing public money. Former Karnataka Deputy CM and senior BJP leader Dr CN Ashwath Narayan termed it as ‘blatant loot of taxpayers’ money’. He raised the question as to why government advertisements are being given to a newspaper which does not have any significant readership in the state.

Priyank Kharge hit back at BJP

Countering BJP’s allegations, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge said that BJP should think about funding RSS magazine organizer instead of National Herald. State Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Ishwar Khandre rejected BJP’s allegations and asked, ‘What is wrong in giving advertisements to National Herald?’ He also said that raising questions on this issue reflects ‘anti-national’ mentality.

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