House session from today, Oppn to raise farm loan waiver issue

The Opposition parties, the BJP and the JD(S), are planning to corner the ruling Congress over the farm loan waiver issue in the state legislature session scheduled to commence from Monday.

The principal Opposition party, the BJP, has already decided to take up the farm loan waiver issue in a big way in the coming days, both inside and outside the legislature.

The saffron party leaders are planning to demand that the state government should follow in the footsteps of the Uttar Pradesh government in this regard. The JD(S) too will follow suit as it is a politically sensitive issue, sources in the BJP said.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been saying that his government is ready to waive the farm loan sanctioned by the co-operative banks if the Centre waives at least 50% of farm loans obtained by farmers from the nationalised banks.

Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah on Sunday told reporters in Mysuru that he is waiting for Union government’s stand to take a decision of farm loan waiver.

He said he has hope that BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa would exert pressure on the Centre to waive bank loans of farmers.

The state government will announce the loan waiver at a suitable time, if the Centre responds positively, he said.

Other issues
The mysterious death of IAS officer Anurag Tewari, increase in the attacks on the BJP workers in the state and the performance of the Siddaramaiah government in the past four years will also be taken up for discussion in the legislature session scheduled to be held for 10 days.

The ruling party, for its part, is planning to counter the BJP by raising the Centre’s controversial decision to ban the sale of cattle for slaughter, the sources added.

Besides, the government will seek the approval of the legislature for the full budget of 2017-18 during the session.