Shah deliberately skipped survey of Kerala: CPM

Union Home Minister Amit Shah's aerial survey of flood-affected Karnataka and Maharashtra has kicked up a political storm with CPI(M) on Monday finding fault with him for "deliberately" skipping Kerala.

In a statement, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau said the Home Minister "chose to go only to BJP-ruled states" of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

"It appears that he deliberately skipped the survey of the badly affected Kerala. Some elements associated with the RSS-BJP are campaigning in social media asking people not to donate to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. Political partisanship is least expected in times of natural calamities and unfortunate deaths of people," it said.

Shah had done an aerial survey of Belagavi in Karnataka as well as Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur districts in Maharashtra on Sunday. Former Congress President and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi is in northern Kerala visiting flood-affected areas.

The CPI(M) statement said Kerala is the worst affected with the death toll already reaching 72 with more bodies being recovered during rescue operations. Nearly three lakh people have been evacuated and housed in 1,639 relief camps across the state.

It said 40 lives have been lost in Maharashtra, 32 in Karnataka and 24 in Gujarat. Major rivers like the Tungabhadra, Krishna in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and their tributaries are in spate and continue to cause immense destruction and damage.

The party urged the Centre to provide all required assistance to the state governments to tackle this calamity.