Bengaluru, April 8 (Reporter) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday accused the central government of providing false information to the Supreme Court to evade its responsibility in disbursing the rightful drought relief funds to the state. The CM, in a release, Siddaramaiah condemned the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's remarks, which he perceives as an attempt to shift blame onto the Karnataka government to deflect from the failures of the central government. In Siddaramaiah's view, the suggestion made by the Solicitor General that Karnataka could have directly communicated with the central government regarding drought relief is unfair and misleading. According to Siddaramaiah, such a suggestion overlooks the efforts made by the Karnataka government to address the issue through official channels, including submitting a memorandum detailing losses and relief requirements and holding meetings with top officials in the central government. He accused the Solicitor General of manipulating the timing of petitions and attempting to influence the court proceedings to suit the union government's agenda. "This is highly reprehensible," Siddaramaiah said. The Supreme Court, while hearing Karnataka's plea, stressed the need to avoid a contest between the union and the state. "Let there not be a contest between the union and the state," the Supreme Court said while hearing the Karnataka government’s plea seeking a direction to the Centre to release financial assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state for drought management. The case has been postponed for two weeks, allowing the union government time to prepare its response. Siddaramaiah highlighted the efforts made by his government, including submitting a memorandum detailing losses and relief requirements, as well as meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to appeal for relief funds. Despite setbacks, Siddaramaiah said his government will continue its fight against what it perceives as injustice by the union government in the provision of drought relief...////...