Farmers’ rally organised by the BJP to protest against the Congress government for its anti-farmer policies here.
Belagavi: BJP state president B Y Vijayendra said on Tuesday that ministers in the state Cabinet wanted to conduct aerial survey via helicopters of crop losses suffered by farmers due to excess rains and floods in the state, following in the chief minister’s footsteps, fearing backlash from farmers.
The ministers will be under fire for not responding to their grievances, he said.
The BJP has always supported farmers and when in power, former chief minister B S Yediyurappa had compensated for crop losses without pointing fingers at the Centre, he said. This, even before the full Cabinet had come into being.
A compensation of Rs 5 lakh each was given to houses that had collapsed.
He was addressing a farmers’ rally organised by the BJP to protest against the Congress government for its anti-farmer policies here.
Vijayendra said BJP had to resort to protest during the session here as the Congress government had failed to respond to farmers whose crops were damaged due to excess rains and were in distress. “Teams from BJP toured different districts to see the ground reality. None of the ministers visited districts where farmers lost their crops,” he said.
Siddaramaiah conducted aerial survey of places where crops were damaged after BJP leaders did a reality check, but did not compensate farmers.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka said after Congress came to power, more than 2,400 farmers had died by suicide and the state stood at number 2 position in farmers’ suicides in the country. There has been no response from the government to farmers’ demands for establishment of purchase centres under minimum support price.
Leader of the Opposition in the Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said people elected Congress government for the five guarantees announced, but development works had taken a hit.