HDK kickstarts poll campaign with promise to waive farm loans

JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said he would waive loans borrowed by farmers from both cooperative and nationalised banks if his party is voted to power in the coming Assembly elections.

Addressing a gathering during the launch of the party's Kumara Parva Vikasa Yatre at Lingadevarakoppalu, on the Mysuru-Hunsur Road near here, he said: "Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has no concern for farmers. People ask me whether it is possible to waive loans worth Rs 50,000 crore. But, the fact is that a chief minister can do anything for the welfare of the people. Siddaramaiah has been chiding the BJP leaders to ask the Centre to waive farm loans taken from nationalised banks, after he waived the such loans obtianed from cooperative banks. During my 20-month tenure as chief minister I too had waived farm loans. But, ask the farmers now, after Siddaramaiah waived the loans, if they have been benefitted, and the answer is negative," he claimed.

"During the Assembly session, I raised the issue of the farmers' suicide due to crop losses and Siddaramaiah had assured of paying Rs 25,000 per acre as compensation. But, so far, the assurance has not materialised. Over 1,000 farmers have died in the past four years. In Mysuru district alone, the chief minister's home district, 150 farmers have died," he pointed out.

"If the government had taken the right decision at the right time to release water from the reservoirs in the Cauvery achcut area, farmers of Mandya and Mysuru would have cultivated one crop. But, now the state government is content with just releasing adequate water to Tamil Nadu," he said.

Earlier, speaking to reporters atop the Chamundi Hill, he said, both the national parties - the Congress and the BJP - are now afraid of the emergence of the JD(S). "They have been claiming that the JD(S) is a 'zero' party. But, an independent survey has predicted that the JD(S) may win around 65 seats. However, the JD(S) aims to win 113 seats in the 2018 Assembly polls, he said.

Chennamma's 1st political appearance

Kumaraswamy said it was his mother Chennamma's first stage appearance along with his father H D Deve Gowda and himself during a political programme.

He said that in the very manner his parents were present to bless him during the launch of the election campaign, all elderly voters and also the youth of the state will bless his party to catapult him to the chief minister's post.