Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar called former Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy a traitor for saying that the paltry drought relief given by the Centre was enough for Karnataka.
Addressing a press conference at the KPCC office on Centre’s drought relief, he said, “After Supreme Court’s intervention, the Centre has agreed to give a very small sum. Kumaraswamy has betrayed Karnataka by saying that the token drought relief given by the Centre was enough for the State. State is not his private property to say if a relief is enough or not. We have decided to continue our legal fight for drought relief.”
“As a people’s representative, Kumaraswamy should have spoken to his alliance partners in Delhi and sought more drought relief for the State. Instead, he is saying that the small amount released by the Centre was enough,” he added.
“Our government had declared 223 taluks as drought hit on September 13, 2023. Drought has affected crops in 46 lakh hectares of agricultural land and 2.06 lakh hectares of horticultural land. Total damage to crops was estimated at Rs 35,000 crores. As per the NDRF guidelines, Karnataka government had sought drought relief of Rs 18,172 crore. Many of our ministers had met the Union ministers and sought drought relief. Our Chief minister and Revenue minister too visited Delhi to seek drought relief,” he explained.
“Since the Centre did not heed to our appeals for drought relief, our government had approached the Supreme Court. After Supreme Court’s intervention, the Centre has agreed to give a sum of Rs 3,454 crores for drought relief. But we don’t know when the money will be deposited into our account,” he said.
“The Centre has announced a very small sum of relief which will be grossly insufficient to provide drought relief to farmers. In this view, we have decided to stage a protest near the Gandhi statue at Vidhana Soudha. We will also continue our legal battle for more drought relief. We are not seeking alms, this is our right,” he noted.
Asked about the Karnataka government’s demand for drought relief, he said, “We had only sought 50% of the estimated loss of Rs 35,000 crore but the Centre has agreed to release only a fraction of that.”
Asked about low voter turn-out in urban areas, Shivakumar said, “I would like to thank all the voters for a peaceful polling. Our tally will reach double digits in the first phase itself.”
Replying to R Ashoka’s statement that BJP would win Bengaluru Rural as Kumaraswamy has laid out a plan, he said, “Devegowda himself has said that its alliance partner BJP hasn’t cooperated. Same thing has happened in Bengaluru Rural also.
Replying to a query, he said, “the election responsibilities in North Karnataka has been given to MLAs and ministers. I will also be touring North Karnataka from tomorrow.”
