Siddaramaiah accuses Centre of step-motherly treatment

Congress leader Siddaramaiah has demanded the Central government to declare the floods in the State as a national disaster, here on Sunday. Seeking Rs 5,000 cr from the Centre for flood relief, he said that the funds released for floods till date was "not sufficient even for first aid."

He demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to conduct an aerial survey of the flood-affected regions like Manmohan Singh had during the 2008 floods and release special funds. Speaking at a press meet, he accused the Centre of 'step-motherly' treatment and said that the State felt betrayed as it was not receiving enough relief funds as other affected States.

Relief activities in the State are affected as there is no Council of Ministers in the State save the chief minister, he said. Terming remarks by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa that MLAs were working like ministers to aid the affected population as 'irresponsible', he said that MLAs could not exercise the same powers as ministers.

Since there is no government, proper measures are not being taken to tackle the crisis, he alleged.