Deplorable that union govt has submitted false information to SC: Karnataka CM

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday accused the union government of submitting “false information” to the Supreme Court in an attempt to “deceive” the court about the rightful drought relief that the state is entitled to, and termed the move “deplorable”.

Faced with continued delays by the union government in providing the rightful drought relief to Karnataka, the state government was compelled to seek justice from the Supreme Court, he said.

Siddaramaiah, in a release said that during today’s hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the Karnataka government is to blame for the delay in drought relief, suggesting a political motive behind it.

“This is highly condemnable,” Siddaramaiah said.

The Solicitor General stated that “for drought relief, they (Karnataka) could have talked to us (union government). We know the timing of these petitions. Lordships may not issue notice, it also becomes a news”, and he attempted to shift blame onto the Karnataka government to cover up the union government's failures, the chief minister said.

The Supreme Court on Monday while hearing the Karnataka government’s plea seeking a direction to the Centre to release financial assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state for drought management said, ''Let there not be a contest between the union and the state.'' The Karnataka government has declared a total of 223 out of 236 taluks as drought-affected. While 196 taluks are categorised as severely affected, the remaining 27 as moderately affected.

Nothing that he has repeatedly said over the past 2-3 months that his government had submitted to the union government in September 2023 itself a memorandum including the details of the losses and the expected relief amount for the drought, Siddaramaiah said, ''After that, I and Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda had met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi to appeal (for release of drought relief funds).” Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar too had separately met the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, he said, “Despite this, the union finance minister and the home minister shamelessly continue to falsely claim that the Karnataka government has been late in submitting its request. Today, the union government repeated this lie before the Supreme Court as well.” The Supreme Court, taking into account the statement made by the Solicitor General of the union government, has postponed the case for two weeks, the CM said. The union government is required to prepare its response before the next hearing. “Our fight against the injustice done by the union government in the provision of drought relief will continue not just on the streets but also in the courts. We will expose the lies of the union government one by one and reveal its true face to the people of the state,” he added.