'Feeding Elephant Half-a-Penny-Worth of Buttermilk': Karnataka on Centre's ₹3454 Cr Drought Relief

Amid the ongoing Lok Sabha Election 2024, drought politics continue in Karnataka as the State government slammed Centre for releasing just Rs 3,454 crore drought relief as against its demand for Rs 18,172 crore. Karnataka Deputy CM DK Sivakumar said they have sought relief as per the NDRF rules and that the Congress party will hold a protest against the Centre on Sunday.

Bengaluru (Karnataka) :After heated exchanges and litigation, the Centre has finally released Rs 3,454 crore as drought relief to Karnataka. It has issued an order to release drought relief to this effect. It came as a victory for the state government, which had fought a legal battle.

When the Congress government in Karnataka demanded immediate drought relief, the centre delayed the release of funds. Questioning this, the state government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah approached the Supreme Court. A hearing was held in the Supreme Court about this recently. And the centre had promised to tale appropriate action to provide drought relief to Karnataka by April 29. The Central Government had also informed the Supreme Court that the Election Commission has also given permission to hold a high-level meeting in this regard.

Congress Slams Centre: Karnataka Congress has expressed displeasure that the central government has released only ₹3,454 crore as drought relief while the state government had demanded Rs 18,172 crore. ''The central government's fraudulent hide-and-seek game in drought relief continues. It has shown a shrewdness that the order of the Supreme Court should be obeyed and injustice also should be done to Karnataka. Karnataka demanded Rs 18,172 crores, but centre released only Rs 3,454 crores and likening it 'to feeding an elephant with half-a-penny-worth of buttermilk'. And continuing its hate for Karnataka," the Congress posted on the social network X.

What did BJP say?:On the other hand, Karnataka state BJP thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for releasing drought relief for the state. "Even though there was severe drought in Karnataka, the state Congress government was engaged in full appeasement politics without giving interim relief to the farmers. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has helped the Kannadigas in even when the Election Code of Conduct is in force, has worked for the benefit of the people by providing drought relief of ₹3,454 crore to Karnataka. Heartfelt thanks to Prime Minister Modi on behalf of all Kannada people," state BJP posted on X.

CM Siddaramaiah Reaction:Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in Kalaburagi that Centre has approved Rs 3,499 crore as drought relief and released only Rs 3,454 crore and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give the balance amount as soon as possible. The chief minister thanked the Supreme Court for warning the Central government and providing some drought relief to the state.

"According to the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) rules, the state was supposed to be paid Rs 18,171 crore, but the Central government has only approved Rs 3,498.98 crore. This money is not sufficient for the drought relief. Our fight for the arrears will continue," he told reporters here.

The chief minister said that the union government did not give the drought relief fund out of concern for Karnataka but it was forced to release money after the state government approached the Supreme Court and pleaded about the drought situation. "The Supreme Court, which heard this petition, was convinced that the Centre was doing injustice to Karnataka due to political reasons," Siddaramaiah alleged.

Bommai's Reaction:Speaking about this in Haveri, former CM Basavaraj Bommai said that the central government never said that it would not provide drought relief. "The state government should have worked responsibly after announcing that the entire state is drought-affected. The central government has released Rs 3,540 crore rupees after getting the permission of the Election Commission after the Supreme court order. I congratulate the central government for releasing such a huge grant. The Congress should stop playing politics in drought relief,'' Bommai said.

Congress Protest Tomorrow:DCM DK Sivakumar said that they will hold a protest near the Gandhi statue of Vidhansouda tomorrow demanding release of more Central drought relief from the Centre.

Addressing a press conference at the KPCC office on Saturday, he said, "We will stage a sit-in tomorrow for more drought relief. We will sit near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Party MLAs will protest. There is drought in 223 taluks. 56.9 lakh hectare crop was lost. We have sought drought relief as per NDRF rules. The central team had come and checked in August itself. We have given the complete record to the center,'' he said.

"Our state BJP MPs have betrayed the central government. If we got money earlier, we would have done a lot of work. Rs 18,000 crore should come to us. For the first time we have reached the Supreme Court. The court also questioned about this situation. Afraid of court intervention, now Centre has released Rs 3,454 crore, Sivakumar said.

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