Bengaluru/Mysuru, 2 April

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday sparred over alleged non-release of drought relief funds by the Centre to the State.

Shah said that the Centre could not release funds on time because the State government submitted the proposal three months late.

“Today the application for drought relief from the Centre is with Election Commission. Congress is doing politics over it," he said.

Siddaramaiah accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of betraying and doing injustice to the people of the State, while Shah alleged delay on the part of State in sending the proposal seeking relief.

"The government that is in power here is not working in the interest of Karnataka. The Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister here...one is busy trying to save his chair and the other is busy trying to snatch the chair. No one has the people of Karnataka in their mind," Shah said.

Karnataka has declared in 223 out of 240 taluks as drought-hit; 196 of them were categorised as severely drought affected.

Earlier in the day, in Mysuru, Siddaramaiah claimed that Shah has no moral right to seek votes from the electorate of Karnataka, as he accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of betraying and doing injustice to the people of the State over the issue of delay in release of drought relief funds in particular.

It's been five months since his government first approached the Centre seeking drought relief but not even a rupee has been given to the state, he said. Three memorandums have been given since October; also the central team had come for inspection and they had submitted their report to the Union government.

“Is Amit Shah giving the money from his house? Is it a 'Bhikshe' (alms)? It's our money, our tax money," he added.

Congress has been using delay in drought relief as one of the major issues in its Lok Sabha poll campaign, along with alleged injustice to the state in tax devolution, grant in aid, and delay in clearance to central projects.

Meanwhile, questioning as to what Congress did for Karnataka during ten years of UPA rule. Shah said, "They should give an account of it or not? I have come with an account, during 10 years of UPA rule Manmohan Singh government gave Karnataka only Rs 1.42 thousand crore, while Narendra Modi gave Rs 4.91 thousand crore, three times more."