BENGALURU/KALABURAGI: Nearly six months after Karnataka submitted a memorandum, the state finally received Rs 3,454 crore from the Centre under the Natural Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to counter the prevailing drought situation. However, this amount is way short of Karnataka’s initial demand of Rs 18,174 crore, which included Rs 5,662 crore for compensation to farmers. The Congress government has planned a sit-in protest on Vidhana Soudha premises in Bengaluru, seeking the release of more funds. CM Siddaramaiah expressed his dissatisfaction by stating that the funds were released not out of concern for Karnataka, but due to the intervention of the Supreme Court. He added that the released funds are not even a quarter of what they had asked for and vowed to continue their fight for a further share. The fund is expected to significantly boost the Congress government in the state as it coincides with the second phase of Lok Sabha elections in north and central Karnataka, which are areas that have been severely affected by drought. A high-powered committee chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had approved the release of funds after the Centre’s commitment before the Supreme Court to disburse the corpus within a week, as promised during the last hearing on Karnataka’s plea questioning the delay.