Siddaramaiah slams Centre, Karnataka govt over flood relief

BENGALURU: Hitting out at the BJP government in the state and at the centre over the delay in announcing flood relief for Karnataka, senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Sunday termed B S Yediyurappa as the weakest chief minister.
The Centre had not given even a single rupee since the floods caused havoc last month despite a Central team visiting the affected places and the state government submitting a memorandum putting the loss at Rs 38,000 crore, he told reporters here.
Stating that the central government had sent back the state's memorandum, seeking some clarifications, he asked what was the difficulty in announcing interim relief and pointed to the largescale destruction caused by the floods that hit several districts, especially in the northern parts of the state.
"I have been in politics for 40 years, I had never seen such large scale floods, coupled with drought in some districts, he said.
As many as 103 taluks of 22 districts were affected by recent floods for which the state government has sought a relief of Rs 38,000 crore from the Centre. Around seven districts were reeling under drought.
Questioning as to why the Prime Minister has not visited the affected areas, he asked, doesn't Narendra Modi have any responsibility? He would have come if he had cared for farmers and poor."
Attacking the BJP leaders from Karnataka as coward for not demanding central relief, he said: "According to me none of them has the courage.
Our chief minister Yediyurappa is the weakest chief minister"
The Congress leader also alleged that BJP was trying for another round of operation lotus (poaching of opposition MLAs), but expressed confidence that none from Congress will leave the party.
Absence and resignation Original Article