Bengaluru, Jun 25 (IANS): The President of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, D.K. Shivakumar, on Thursday directed the party workers to fan out across the state as part of an ‘outreach programme' to collect ‘exact data' of the families affected by the Covid-19 pandemic since March last year.

Accusing the ruling BJP in the state of hiding the actual Covid death figures, Shivakumar told reporters that the Congress as the opposition party must uncover the real numbers and make them available in the public domain.

He also claimed that while the state government is reporting around 30,000 deaths due to Covid, the ground reality is entirely different, as several media reports show that Covid fatalities have already crossed the one lakh-mark in the state.

"Several families have lost their sole earning members, but wrong data provided by the state government could deprive many of the legitimate compensation of Rs 1 lakh that was announced by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa for such families.

"As the principal opposition party, we have to ensure that every family which lost its earning member gets the compensation," he said.

The KPCC chief said that through this campaign, the Congress also aims to engage the party cadres in establishing contact with the target groups in the urban, semi-urban and rural areas.

"This outreach programme will be carried out effectively by organising visits by the local leaders (at the district, block and taluka levels) to the homes of the pandemic-hit families," he said.

According to Shivakumar, the party aims to directly cover one crore plus households in Karnataka within 30 days.