Two days after Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s visit to a drought-hit village in Chitradurga, Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda and his cabinet colleague, Jagadish Shettar criticised her for not being ‘sympathetic’ to the people of drought-hit areas. “Local leaders of the Congress failed to convince her about the severity of the drought,” the CM said adding, “I hope good sense prevails on the Opposition leaders and they join the all-party delegation we are taking to the Centre to secure funds”.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Shettar felt Mrs Gandhi should have taken time off to speak to people and ask them about their problems. Referring to the statement that the Centre had released Rs 98,000 crore to the state in the last seven years, he asserted that this was Karnataka’s rightful share. As a matter of fact, the state government should have got more than this, he felt.
The rural development minister wanted Mrs Gandhi to prevail upon the Prime Minister and agriculture minister to ensure additional funds are released to Karnataka. So far, the state government has spent Rs 412 crore for providing drinking water supply, of which only Rs 120 crore was provided by the Centre, he claimed.