Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare the Kerala floods as a national disaster without any delay. He continued the tweet saying the lives, livelihood and future of millions of people are at stake. Congress leader’s tweet came moments later PM Modi sanctioned Rs 500 crore more as interim flood relief for Kerala. 
PM has also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh per person to the next kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured, from PM’s National Relief Funds. The announcement was made at the high-level meeting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Union Minister KJ Alphons and other officials in Kochi.