Congress leaders on Thursday staged a daylong protest here against the BJP government’s alleged failure to take up flood-relief and drought-relief measures and to demand that the Centre declare flood havoc in the State as a “national calamity”.
After ending the protest, Congress leaders submitted a memorandum to Governor Vajubhai R. Vala with an appeal for flood relief package to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the letter to Mr. Modi, the Congress urged the Union government to declare Karnataka floods as a national disaster and grant ₹5,000 crore as an interim relief.
It also urged the Prime Minister to conduct an aerial survey of the food-hit areas of the State. With many taluks in Kolar, Chickballapur, Ramanagaram, and Bengaluru Rural districts facing deficient rainfall, the Congress demanded special grants for drought-affected areas of the State.
The former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Congress unit president Dinesh Gundu Rao, and senior leader H.K. Patil participated in the protest.