Home Minister Amit Shah’s decision not to visit rain-hit Kerala has snowballed into a political controversy.

When the Congress urged the Centre to support all the States struggling with floods, the CPI(M) said that Shah deliberately skipped surveying Kerala.

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who is in Kerala to visit the landslide-affected areas in Wayanad, his constituency, said many people are still trapped.

“It is a tragedy not only for Wayanad but for Kerala and also some southern States such as Karnataka. I think the Centre needs to pay attention and aggressively support the people of these States,” he said.

The CPI(M) Politburo, expressing grave concern at the loss of life, destruction of property and livestock due to the floods in various parts of the country, said Kerala is the worst affected, and has been hit again exactly a year after the devastation caused by the floods in 2018.

The party urged the Centre to provide all assistance to the State.

Social media campaign

“The Home Minister, in his aerial survey of the flood-hit areas, chose only the BJP-ruled Maharashtra and Karnataka. It appears that he deliberately skipped the survey of the badly-affected Kerala. Some elements associated with the RSS-BJP are campaigning on social media asking people not to donate to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

“Political partisanship is least expected in times of natural calamities and unfortunate deaths of people,” the Politburo statement added.

The party also noted that the death toll has reached 72 so far and more bodies are being recovered during rescue operations.

“Nearly three lakh people have been evacuated and housed in 1,639 relief camps across the State. The Left Democratic Front government in the State is once again combating this havoc efficiently,” it said.

“Forty lives have been lost in Maharashtra, 32 in Karnataka and 24 in Gujarat. Major rivers such as the Tungabhadra, Krishna in AP/Telangana and their tributaries are in spate and continue to cause immense destruction and damage,” the party statement added.

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