Congress asks BJP to declare Kerala floods as national disaster

The deadliest deluge in Kerala in close to a century has claimed 194 lives since August 8. Over 3.14 lakh people have been moved to relief camps.

The Congress today asked the BJP-led Centre to declare Kerala floods a national disaster and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not play partisan politics over the issue.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said it was critical that the prime minister declared Kerala floods a national disaster and asked him not to vacillate as the people of the southern state were suffering.

"Dear PM, Increasing funds allocated for Kerala relief to Rs.500 Cr is a good step but nowhere near enough. It is critical you declare the floods as a National Disaster. Please do not vacillate as the people of Kerala are suffering (sic)," he said in a tweet.

In another tweet, Gandhi also demanded that the Kerala floods be declared a national disaster without any delay, saying the lives, livelihood, and future of millions of people were at stake.

Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said it was tragic that the prime minister announced a "pittance" of Rs 500 crore for the flood relief operations in Kerala as against the state's demand of Rs 2,000 crore.

"Painful that Modi Government is playing politics over flood relief merely because BJP has no presence in the state. Floods, human tragedy, and unprecedented devastation can't be the subject matter of partisan politics as is being done by Modi Government in Kerala flood (sic)," he wrote on Twitter.

In another tweet, Surjewala said, "Federalism envisages handholding and co-operation in such times. Does an autocratic Central Government understand this foundational principle?"

He claimed that while the Centre had only provided an Rs 100-crore relief to the Kerala government, properties worth Rs 2,000-3,000 crore were damaged due to the floods.

"We believe Modiji should stop discriminating in the matters of flood relief between the BJP and the non-BJP governments. A mere Rs 100 crore has been given to Kerala, while there is devastation.

"It is time the prime minister rose above partisan political games, came forward to help the people of Kerala and Karnataka and declared Kerala floods a national calamity," Surjewala told reporters here after a meeting of top Congress leaders, chaired by Gandhi.

He wondered whether the Modi government had comprehended that the Kerala floods had left 357 people dead, four lakh people in shelter homes, 30,000 houses destroyed and 16,000 kms of roads damaged.

"Why is Modiji not declaring Kerala Flood a 'National Calamity'? Stop punishing flood-ravaged Kerala," Surjewala said in another tweet.

He said the Congress governments in different states were contributing to the relief funds while all party MPs, MLAs, MLCs will donate a month's salary for the relief measures.

Surjewala said it was decided at the meeting chaired by Gandhi that all the Congress governments will come forward to help the people of Kerala in this hour of tragedy.

The Punjab government and the JD(S)-Congress government in Karnataka had donated Rs 10 crore each to Kerala, while the Puducherry government had contributed Rs 1 crore, he added.

The deadliest deluge in Kerala in close to a century has claimed 194 lives since August 8. Over 3.14 lakh people have been moved to relief camps.

"We also noted with concern the grave situation arising out of the floods in Karnataka as also in the rest of the country. In the entire country, 324 people have lost their lives," Surjewala said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)