Bengaluru: For a while on Thursday, the Legislative Council witnessed an animated discussion between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and leader of Opposition K S Eshwarappa on the political scenario, post 2018 Assembly elections in Karnataka.
Mr Siddaramaiah claimed that the Congress would return to power in Karnataka next year while replying to a preliminary submission made by Mr Eshwarappa.
He said that the BJP leaders initially spoke of how the outcome of by-polls to Nanjangud and Gundlupet would indicate the result of elections in 2018, but the ruling party won both seats.
Mr Eshwarappa, however, reminded of the setback for Congress candidates in by-polls to Hebbal and Deodurga constituencies.
The Chief Minister countered Mr Eshwarappa saying the leader should not bank on history but keep in mind the victory of ruling party candidates in Nanjangud and Gundlupet.
On the issue of waiver of farm loans, Mr Siddaramaiah spoke of the state government’s willingness to write off farm loans released by commercial banks. His government would waive '10,000 crore crop loans of farmers released by co-operative banks immediately provided the Union government waived loans of commercial banks. The previous UPA Government headed by Dr Manmohan Singh had waived farmers' loan of commercial banks. BJP leaders raise this demand in the Legislative Assembly and the Council but would not speak up in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The previous BJP government headed by Mr Jagadish Shettar had waived Rs 3,250 crores loans of co-operative banks at the end its tenure, and the new Congress government had to repay that amount to the bank.
Irked by Mr Siddaramaiah’s statement, Mr Eshwarappa said the state government was anti-farmer and officials were not touring drought-hit districts to mitigate the impact of scarcity conditions. Even district-in-charge ministers were not chairing meetings to review projects.
The video conference addressed by the Chief Minister with deputy commissioners was a waste of time since the bureaucrats were not visiting villages. The bureaucracy would wake up only if the Chief Minister initiates disciplinary action against a couple of officers.
The ruling party members sought to know what 17 BJP MPs were doing in Lok Sabha without pressuring the Union government to waive farmers loans.
Besides, five union ministers from Karnataka were also silent on this issue, they alleged.
