The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah “deliberately skipped” an aerial survey of Kerala on Sunday and “chose to go only to BJP-ruled states” of Maharashtra and Karnataka, PTI reported. The toll in the floods in Kerala rose to 72 and that in Karnataka and Maharashtra rose to 40 each on Monday.
“The home minister in his aerial survey of flood-hit areas chose to go only to BJP ruled states of Maharashtra and Karnataka,” the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said in a statement. “It appears that he deliberately skipped the survey of the badly affected Kerala.” It also expressed concern at the loss of life, destruction of property and livestock due to the floods in various parts of the country.
The statement came as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday began a two-day visit to Wayanad, his constituency in Kerala, to assess the flood situation. Shah had done an aerial survey of Belagavi in Karnataka as well as Sangli and Kolhapur districts in Maharashtra on Sunday.
An official update at 11 am said 2,87,585 people have taken shelter in 1,654 relief centres in the state.
The statement alleged that some people associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party are campaigning on social media by asking people not to donate to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
The party urged the Centre to provide all required assistance to the state governments to tackle this calamity. “Forty lives have been lost in Maharashtra, 32 in Karnataka and 24 in Gujarat,” the statement said. “Major rivers like the Tungabhadra, Krishna in AP/Telangana and their tributaries are in spate and continue to cause immense destruction and damage.”
Out of 72 deaths in Kerala, Malappuram recorded 24, followed by Kozhikode with 17 and Wayanad with 12.
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