Karnataka Congress Rift Deepens As H K Patil Threatens To Quit Over Gadag Drought Tag

Bengaluru: The internal bickering within Karnataka Congress has come to the fore again during the drought, with former minister H K Patil, who missed the ministerial berth during the recent cabinet expansion, having threatened to resign if his home taluk of Gadag was not declared drought-hit by October 10.

Interestingly, Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy, who is an ardent supporter of former chief minister Siddaramaiah, has also written a letter to Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, urging him to declare Gadag, Ron and Mundaragi taluks as drought-hit.

Earlier on Sunday evening, Patil was talking to farmers and media and said that he would make every effort to get Gadag taluk declared as drought-hit by Oct 2. "If it is not declared drought-hit, I will naturally abide by your decision. I am an ML because you are with me. If you want me to resign, I will submit my resignation by Oct 10," he said.

"I am not that helpless. I will do whatever needs to be done to get it done within three days. I will make every effort to ensure that Gadag district is declared drought-hit before Gandhi Jayanti, that is, before October 2," he said.

Patil also warned that he would resign if anyone attempted to prevent Gadag taluk from being declared drought-hit despite its eligibility for such a declaration. So far, 124 taluks in Karnataka have been declared drought-hit and assessments are continuing in other areas," he added.

Meanwhile, on Monday morning, Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy wrote a letter to Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, urging him to declare Gadag, Ron and Mundaragi taluks as drought-hit.

In his letter, Rayareddy stated that all three taluks have rain deficiency between 43% to 48%. "There is a need for making preparations for providing drinking water to people as well as providing fodder to the cattle. The three taluks should be declared drought-hit at the earliest," he added.

Meanwhile, on Monday morning, Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara, who also holds the Revenue portfolio, said that more than 200 taluks across Karnataka are likely to be included in the drought-affected list as the government assesses them in phases based on prescribed criteria and ground-truthing.

101 taluks were declared drought-affected in the first phase, followed by another 24. An additional 52 taluks are expected to be declared drought-affected in the next three to four days. In the subsequent phase, ground-truthing will be undertaken in around 50 more taluks before a decision is taken based on the assessment, Dr Parameshwar added.