Cong rubbishes Modi's charge on quake relief fund

Karnataka PCC rubbished Gujarat CM's charges about transfer of Rs 42 crore donations collected for providing relief to quake victims.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee on Thursday rubbished Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's charge that its party government in the state did not transfer Rs 42 crore donations collected for providing relief to earthquake victims in Gujarat.

State unit Congress spokesman B K Chandrashekhar, terming Modi's allegations as a "politically motivated", said the government remitted Rs 20 crore to Gujarat and the remaining amount had been retained in two fixed deposits.

He said the state government was forced to keep Rs 20 crore in fixed deposits after Gujarat government failed to respond to its repeated plea for furnishing a list of school buildings to be constructed in Rajkot, Kutch and Ahmedabad.

Karnataka was keen on development of infrastructure in quake ravaged areas, particularly construction of school buildings, he said.

Decrying Modi's challenge to the Chief Minister S M Krishna that the latter had "no capacity" to emulate Gujarat in Karnataka, Chandrashekhar said "no cultured or humane person would try to emulate incidents that occurred in Gujarat, which attracted global condemnation".

Coming down heavily on the state unit BJP leaders for inviting Modi to campaign in Karnataka, he said it demonstrated the "electioneering bankruptcy" being faced by the opposition party.