Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah (L) and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy (R).
Credit: DH Photos
New Delhi: Attacking Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over his remarks questioning H D Kumaraswamy's contribution to Mandya district, the JD(S) leader has said that Siddaramaiah should first list his own achievements as the CM.
“I will clearly list what I have given to Mandya. Before that, let the Chief Minister explain what he delivered to the state as the CM,” Kumaraswamy told reporters on Monday.
“During Siddaramaiah’s previous five-year tenure (2013-2018) as the CM, over 200 farmers in Mandya district ended their lives. Is that the CM contribution? When I came to power during that crisis, I waived Rs 900 crore of farmers’ loans in the same district. Is that not a contribution? Under your rule, farmers lost their lives; under my government, lives were saved. Please remember this,” Kumaraswamy, Lok Sabha member from Mandya said.
Alleging that the state government is ignoring the agrarian crisis, he said the CM must explain what action he has taken to help maize, tur and sugarcane growing farmers.
"When prices of these farm produce crashed, the state government should have intervened in time to support farmers," he said.
Alleging that the state delayed its request to the Centre for central team inspection to the calamity hit region of the state, he said “After four months, the state government suddenly woke up. If a central team visits the state now, what report will it submit?”
Cut and paste by Deputy Chief Minister
Attacking Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, the Union Minister said that the ‘Neerina Hejje’ book released by him was nothing but a cut-and-paste compilation written by some other person.
“Someone else has written the book. Shivakumar simply copied it and published it in his name to gain publicity. Can Shivakumar write one sentence in Kannada? Instead of doing this kind of drama and publicity stunt, the Deputy Chief Minister should work on addressing inter-state water disputes,” he said.