VIJAYAPURA: At a time when the state is reeling under a severe drought, BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel on Saturday stoked a controversy, saying the state faces drought whenever Siddaramaiah becomes chief minister.
“This is as if even God himself does not want him to become CM,” he said. When reminded that the state faced severe floods when BS Yediyurappa was chief minister, Kateel said Yediyurappa managed the natural calamity effectively.
“When people were in trouble because of the floods, Yediyurappa toured the State. He did not wait for the Centre to grant funds. Instead, he used available funds to offer relief to people,” he said.
“Since farmers are cursing the Congress government for not managing drought, their curse will lead to the fall of the government,” he said.
Claiming that the state still has over Rs 900 crore of NDRF funds, Kateel said the government should utilise it to provide immediate relief to farmers. “The Centre will certainly give funds and we will make every effort also to bring funds. Since the process takes time and farmers need immediate relief, the CM should use available funds to rescue farmers,” he added.
He claimed that the state government till date has not submitted details of estimated crop loss to the Centre.
Refuting allegations that the Centre is partial in giving funds, Kateel said that if the Centre was discriminatory, it would not have sent its officials to assess crop damage.