Congress ignoring farmers' plight, busy with power tussle: Nikhil Kumaraswamy

Sindhanur (Raichur district): Floods in the state have left a trail of destruction and farmers are reeling under losses, but the Congress power and leadership is busy with a leadership tussle, JD(S) Youth president Nikhil Kumaraswamy told reporters in Sindhanur on Tuesday.

Nikhil, participating in a massive demonstration organised by farmers from Raichur, Koppal, Ballari and Vijayanagar districts in Sindhanur, alleged that Deputy CM D K Shivakumar was busy procuring legislators, offering each of them Rs 50 crore, to bolster his chances of becoming the CM.

“A Gujarat company was handed the contract to fix the 32 crest gates of the Tungabhadra Dam, and a sum of Rs 52 crore was allocated towards that. But the government is yet to settle the Gujarat company’s bill that has come up to Rs 11 crore. This is yet another indication of this government’s apathy towards the farmers of the Kalyana Karnataka region,” said Nikhil.

Dubbing the Congress government ‘thick-skinned’, Nikhil said, “The Congress government in neighbouring Telangana is not only procuring paddy for the minimum support price (MSP) but offering an additional sum of Rs 500 to each farmer. But the government here is yet to set up paddy procurement centres. Cotton, maize and tur dal farmers are in distress, and instead of attending to their problems, all the Congress leaders are occupied with the fight over leadership.”

JD(S) core committee president M Krishna Reddy, and former minister Hanumanthappa Alkod were among those who were present alongside Nikhil at the demonstration.