Bengaluru: Criticising the government for its poor response to the heavy rains, floods and landslides in parts of the state, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) held a protest in Bengaluru on Thursday, August 29. They also demanded that a special Assembly session be held to discuss the floods which caused the deaths of 88 people in this month alone.

Several senior Congress leaders participated in the protest that took place at Maurya Circle on Thursday.

Addressing the gathering, former chief minister Siddaramaiah said that the response to the situation in the state has been poor even though the governments in the state and the Centre are led by the BJP.

He criticised Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for working alone, without a council of ministers. “Yediyurappa was in Delhi when the floods hit the state and there was no government in place here,” he said and questioned if the Centre has released funds for the state after all of BSY’s visits.

Criticising the BJP of failing in its very first task after forming the government, he asked BSY to call for a special Assembly session to discuss the damage caused by the floods.

Backing the former CM, former minister D K Shivakumar said that they “do not want to do politics” but “want to cooperate with the government”.

He urged the state government to call for a special Assembly session so that the losses suffered and the compensations for the same can be discussed. “We need to find the right solution for this immediately,” he said.

Later, after the protest, Siddaramaiah, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao and other Congress leaders met Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala at the Raj Bhavan and submitted to him a memorandum demanding the declaration of the state’s situation as a “national calamity” and for the release of relief funds to the tune of Rs 5,000 crores from the Centre.

KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre, party leader H K Patil and others were present.