PM Modi in Attendance, Karnataka CM Yediyurappa Reminds Him of Pending Flood Relief from Centre

Bengaluru: After having met the Prime Minister multiple times requesting grants for the state that has been affected by both floods and drought, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday sought the center's aid from the Prime Minister at a public event in Tumkur.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Karnataka on a two-day visit and was on the dais during the event held to distribute Krishi Karman Awards and Commendation Awards to states. The PM also gave away the Agriculture Minister’s Krishi Karman Awards for Progressive Farmers.

In his speech that lasted about six minutes, BS Yediyurappa began by thanking the PM Modi for having hosted the event in Karnataka, following which he raised concerns of the state.

"During heavy rains and floods in the state, 600-700 villages were flooded, around three lakh houses were damaged, roads and bridges were damaged. We incurred a loss of more than Rs 30,000 crore. I have brought this to the prime minister's notice. I had requested him three-four times. But the aid has not come yet. I request the Prime Minister to release these grants," Yediyurappa said.

He also requested Rs 50,000 crore from the Centre for completion of irrigation projects in the state. The Chief Minister ended his speech thanking the people for gathering at the event.

In October, the Centre had released Rs 1,200 crore as an interim relief for Karnataka. Modi's two-day visit began with visiting the Siddaganga mutt in Tumkur where he unveiled the plaque to mark the laying of foundation stone for a memorial museum of Shri Shri Shivakumar Swamiji, the mutt seer who died on January 21, 2019.

#GoBackModi was trending on Twitter with several Tweeple criticising the PM for not having visited the mutt when the seer died. While paying his respects to the seer in his speech, Modi also spoke about the Citizenship Amendment Act.

"We brought in the Citizenship Amendment Act few weeks back, but Congress and others are holding protests against this law. They have created an environment of hate. Pakistan was formed on the basis of religion, and for many years they have ill-treated Hindus, Sikhs and Jains and Buddhists. Many of the victims are my Dalit brothers and sisters, our oppressed classes but if we try to help them, they are holding agitations against this. If you really want to hold agitations, then do it against Pakistan's ill-treatment of minorities. Why are you silent on that?," he said.

"If you really have to chant slogans, then do that against ill treatment of Dalits and oppressed classes, against the people who harass them, rape them," he added.

PM Modi also slammed states, which have not enrolled with the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana (PMKSY), saying that such petty politics has done great damage to the farming community. "I expect that in the new year, those states which are not associated with the Kisan Samman Yojana will at least become a part of it this year," the Prime Minister said at a function in Tumakuru where he disbursed Rs 12,000 crore to six crore beneficiaries under the government scheme in one-go.

The announcement came hours after several farmers were detained in Bengaluru, Tumakuru and Shivamogga districts for planning to protest against 'anti-farmer' policies of the central government.

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah in a series of tweets criticised the prime minister for his "delayed" visit to the state, among others.