Congress leaders pointing out fingers at Centre to hide their failure to tackle drought in State, says Kota Srinivas Poojary

Kota Srinivas Poojary challenges CM Siddaramaiah to prove his claim of releasing ₹2,000 to 42 lakh farmers affected by drought.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Kota Srinivas Poojary said on Saturday that Congress leaders in the State were unnecessarily pointing out fingers at the Union government to hide their alleged failure and inability to tackle drought.

He told presspersons in Udupi that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was talking about releasing ₹324 crore to manage drought in the State. But 75% of that amount was received from the Union government while only 25% constituted the share of the State government. Now the State had suffered a loss of ₹33,000 crore due to drought. As many as 42 lakh farmers have been affected.

“Mr. Siddaramaiah who presented the Budget with a total outlay of ₹3.5 lakh crore is not in a position to release ₹4,000 crore to tackle drought. If he can release that amount, then later the leaders from the State can team up and urge the Union government to release more compensation,” Mr. Poojary said.

He said that when B.S. Yediyurappa was the Chief Minister he managed the flood situation in the State effectively. He increased the compensation amount to be given to a fully damaged house in the calamity from ₹95,000 to ₹5 lakh. In addition, he released ₹2,000 crore to tackle the flood situation without delay.

Mr. Poojary challenged Mr. Siddaramaiah to prove his claim of releasing ₹2,000 each to the bank accounts of 42 lakh farmers because of drought.

The BJP leader alleged that Mr. Siddaramaiah had stopped the Deputy Commissioners and the Chief Executive Officers of zilla panchayats from attending the Viksit Bharath Sankalp Yatra in Karnataka by giving oral instructions. It was not correct, he said.