HDK, Eshwarappa target State government

Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy said, suicide of farmers in the State was on the rise since the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government was formed.

He was speaking after inaugurating the renovated temples at Bettahalli and Maluganahalli, in the taluk, on Thursday. “The anti-farmer policy of the government is evident with the chief minister not condemning the anti-farmer remarks of his Cabinet colleagues. The government has failed to provide even support price to various agricultural produce. Farmers are resorting to suicide, unable to handle the situation,” he said.

Declining remarks against him as casteist, he said, he had good relations with leaders of all communities and recalled his village-stay at the house of a Dalit family when he was chief minister. “The governments did not continue my ambitious Suvarna Grama project, which intended to provide drinking water and sanitation facilities,” he said. 

Opposition Leader in the Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa in his attack against the State government said, the Congress-led State government was anti-poor and anti-farmer.

Speaking during a BJP membership enrolment campaign, in Periyapatna, on Thursday, he said, the rice issued under Anna Bhagya scheme was not reaching the needy. “The rice sold at Re 1 per kg is procured by rice traders and rice mill owners and sold back to the government at higher prices. Otherwise, it is sold to common people in the black-market,” he said. 

The government is acting like an agent of sugar factory managements. While, it has failed to get adequate price for sugarcane, it is not taking any steps to revive government-owned and cooperative sugar factories, he alleged.