BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took BJP members to task in the Legislative Council on Thursday for not supporting him when he appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to waive farm loans.
During question hour, Mr. Siddaramaiah said Mr Modi did not respond when he pleaded for waiver of farm loans. “I requested the Prime Minister to contribute 50 per cent of the total amount of loans to be waived. When I made the request, state BJP leaders did not speak a word,” he added.
In Karnataka, farmers have borrowed agricultural loans to the tune of Rs. 52,000 crores of which Rs. 42,000 crores were from public sector and commercial banks, and the rest from agriculture co-operative societies. If state government take a decision to waive loans it would help only 20 per cent of farmers. Therefore, the Union government must take a call on writing off the loans of remaining 80 per cent of farmers, Mr. Siddaramaiah added. .
He said that when BJP leader Jagadish Shettar occupied the post of Chief Minister, he took a decision to waive agricultural loans, and his decision was implemented by the Congress government. Now, however, the state government was rendered helpless in view of the stand adopted by the Union government.
Irked by his remarks, BJP leaders alleged that the state government had not disbursed loans to farmers.
