Expenses on Rahul Gandhi trip could have been used for relief fund: HD Kumaraswamy
He said Karnataka did not benefit much from Mr Gandhi’s visit
Bengaluru: The state government could have handed out ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakhs each to the kin of farmers who committed suicide out of money spent on two-day visit of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to Karnataka last week, says state JD (S) president H D Kumaraswamy.
Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, he said Karnataka did not benefit much from Mr Gandhi’s visit except spend huge amount of money on preparations. With the amount spent on his visit, families of dead farmers could have been easily got Rs 10 lakhs each. Agriculture minister Krishna Byre Gowda, instead of requesting the Union government to release Rs 500 crores, should have borrowed loans to help farmers in distress. What prevented the government that borrows crores of rupees loan for various projects to secure Rs 500 crore loan to mitigate the problems of agriculturists, he added.
The JD(S) leader alleged that forests minister Ramanath Rai had declined to give permission to the committee constituted to study encroachment of forest land in and around Bengaluru.