The Hindu : Advani's charges are wild, says Kharge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 16, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Advani's charges are wild, says Kharge

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA, MARCH 15. The Home Minister, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, today charged the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, with indulging in cheap political gimmicks by making wild charges on the performance of the State Government.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Kharge said it was the Centre that had denied Karnataka its due in the matter of funds and release of foodgrains to take up drought relief works in the past three years.

He alleged that step-motherly treatment had been meted out to the State.

The Minister said the Centre had not even released 10 per cent of the amount it sought for tackling the drought this year and even the previous releases were not adequate while preferential treatment had been meted out to Andhra Pradesh.

Mr. Kharge, who is also the Chairman of the Cabinet Sub-committee on Drought Management, said in the latest memorandum submitted to the Centre on drought relief, the State Government had requested it to release Rs. 2,880 crore but the Centre had released only Rs. 249 crore.

As against the demand for 15 lakh tonnes of foodgrains, the Centre had allocated only 4.5 lakh tonnes.

He said the State was also being discriminated in the allotment of railway rakes for transporting foodgrains.

So far, the foodgrains had not reached the State due to the delay in providing the rakes, he added.

While Karnataka had been allotted Rs. 180 crore and 4.30 lakh tonnes of foodgrains, Andhra Pradesh had been provided Rs. 400 crore and 45 lakh tonnes of foodgrains.

Mr. Kharge said unlike in Andhra Pradesh, there had been no complaints of misuse of foodgrains or funds allocated by the Centre here, and the BJP legislators who headed the task forces on drought relief measures in the districts had not complained about misuse of funds.

The BJP, which had no issue to raise against the Government, was now harping on the so-called mishandling of the drought situation.

On the stamp paper racket raised by Mr. Advani during his Bharat Uday Yatra, Mr. Kharge pointed out that the Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, had praised the State Government's handling of the issue in Parliament.

But Mr. Advani was not speaking about it as elections were around the corner.

He said it were the Karnataka police who had arrested Abdul Karim Telgi, the main accused in the stamp paper racket, and based on his revelations the STAMPIT team here and State governments had effected many arrests.

Mr. Kharge accused the Centre of not acting on letters by the Chief Minister and himself on the involvement of officials at the Nasik Security Press in selling the machinery to Telgi, which was used by him to print the fake stamp papers.

Mr. Kharge said the STAMPIT had been regularly submitting status reports of the investigation into the stamp paper racket case to the Union Home Ministry and the Intelligence Bureau, and so far 35 such reports had been submitted.

The Union Government should appreciate the efforts of the State police and STAMPIT in handling the case and not indulge in "cheap gimmicks to gain a few votes."

To a question, Mr. Kharge said the final list of candidates of the Congress for the remaining Lok Sabha seats may be announced by March 20 and the first list of the candidates for the Assembly elections by March 22.

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