Bengaluru: National president of a nascent political party, Swaraj India, Yogendra Yadav has welcomed Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's announcement to waive off farm loans.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Mr Yadav said that while he welcomes Mr Kumaraswamy's commitment to unburdening farmers of their loans, he sincerely hoped this would not turn out to be a "fraudulent" loan waiver that took place in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra under the BJP government, in Punjab under the Congress government and in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana under the TDP and TRS governments.
“The JD(S) had promised farm loan waiver in their election manifesto and they are bound by it. The loan waiver should be universal, a one time settlement, unconditional, and must cover the tenant farmers as well. They should waive off the loan in one stroke and not in instalments,” said Mr Yadav.
He added that the State will have to reimburse the banks for the outstanding loan amount, which is pegged at around Rs 53,000 crore.
