BANGALORE: The blame-game over AICC president Sonia Gandhi’s visit to Karnataka continues. Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda, RDPR Minister Jagadish Shettar on Monday hit back at Sonia stating that her visit to Karnataka was laced with political motive and had nothing to do with drought.“It was a name sake visit. What would one one understand about problems in a ten-minute visit? If she (Sonia) was so concerned about the plight of the drought-affected people, she should have announced an on the spot assistance to the state,” said Gowda while accusing state Congress leaders of failing to apprise her on the real picture of drought.Gowda dubbed her participation in the Siddaganga Mutt programme, too, as “politically motivated”.Shettar objected to Sonia‘s statement that the Centre had given Rs 98,000 crore to Karnataka in the last seven years. “It is after all the tax-payers money. The state should have got even more if we take into consideration the tax receipts from the state,” he added.He also criticised Sonia for targeting the state government during her visit. “She has criticised the state government for the sake of criticism. Instead, she should try and ensure that the Centre released more funds to the state to tackle drought,” the minister added.State to Demand Rs 4550 Crore from CentreChief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda will lead an all-party delegation to Delhi on May 2 seeking Central assistance of Rs 4,550 crore to compensate the state for losses it suffered due to the prevailing drought.Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar on Monday said that the delegation would meet Prime Miniser Manmohan Singh, Sharad Pawar and others and press for early assistance.Shettar said that about Rs 421 crore has been spent so far, of which the Centre’s share was just Rs 126 crore. The minister said that 400 villages were being supplied with drinking water through tankers and government was ready to deploy more tankers based on the demand.
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