Amit Shah says Karnataka delayed seeking drought relief, petition now ‘stuck with EC’

Shah’s remarks were in contradiction with a writ petition filed by the Karnataka government in the Supreme Court seeking immediate release of relief for the state. Karnataka has said that it submitted the first memorandum to the Centre on September 22, 2023, followed by two supplementary memorandums on October 10 and November 15.

The response by Shah, who heads the high-level committee that approves assistance under the National Disaster Response Fund, came after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah attacked the Union minister over the issue. Earlier in the day, Siddaramaiah asked whether Shah had any moral right to seek votes in Karnataka when he did not aid its people during the drought.

Following Shah’s remarks, Siddaramaiah tweeted dates of the submission of the memorandum and meetings held with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah in December last year. “Dear Home Minister, it seems you have lied again by saying Karnataka has delayed the submission of the drought memorandum,” he tweeted.

Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda tweeted a copy of the office memorandum issued by the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Home Affairs on November 20, 2023. “Agriculture Secretary of GOI, finalised recommendation for “financial assistance to Karnataka under NDRF” and sent it for “an early consideration of the High Level Committee” headed by Home Minister on *Nov 20. *It is sitting in the Home Minister table gathering dust. Home Minister did not care do a meeting in 4 months to provide relief to farmers of Karnataka,” he wrote on X.

Drought relief is among the Congress’s key talking points ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Before the petition was filed in the Supreme Court, the Congress had protested at Jantar Mantar in Delhi alleging injustice in the disbursal of funds to the state government.

Taking a dig at the ‘Save Democracy’ rally organised by the INDIA bloc on March 31, Shah told the meeting that the event’s objective was to protect the corrupt. “Should the corrupt be imprisoned or not?” he said, referring to instances when Rs 350 crore in cash was recovered from a Congress leader and Rs 21 crore from a Trinamool Congress leader.

Shah alleged that the state government was not working for the welfare of the people and that while Siddaramaiah was trying to protect his seat, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar was trying to steal it.

Elections to the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka will be held in two phases, on April 26 and May 7.