Farm woes to be focus of campaign

SIDDARAMAIAH TRIED TO TAKE THE STING OUT OF THE BJP’S CAMPAIGN BY ANNOUNCING IN JUNE A LOAN WAIVER SCHEME WORTH ₹8,165 CRORE, WHICH WILL BENEFIT 22 LAKH FARMERS

NEWDELHI: The BJP plans to take its campaign for next year’s Karnataka assembly election to around 3,500 villages t hat reported suicides by farmers over the last five years.

Aiming to win back the southern state that is the biggest of the six states where Congress is in power, the BJP will hold public meetings in these villages to showcase the pro-agriculture initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa. “More than 4,000 farmers have committed suicide under Congress rule,” said BJP general secretary Muralidhar Rao, also the party in-charge for Karnataka. “BJP’S track record in addressing farmer’s issue is much more impressive than that of the Congress.”

About 61% of Karnataka’s 6.1 crore population lives in rural areas and 78.32 lakh people are engaged in agricultural activities. Of these, 38.49 lakh are marginal farmers with land holding of less than a hectare and 21.38 lakh are small farmers with land between 1 and 2 hectares.

The former Karnataka chief minister in May had taken out a ‘yatra’ in the state demanding an Uttar Pradesh-like loan waiver for the state's farmers.

Siddaramaiah tried to take the sting out of the BJP’S campaign by announcing in June a loan waiver scheme worth ₹8,165 crore, which will benefit 22 lakh farmers. The BJP wasn’t impressed and asked for more relief — a conditional waiver of ₹50,000 per farmer.

Farm distress in Karnataka, which faced drought in the last few years, will be a major campaign theme for BJP, which plans to take out a 84-day and 7,500-km ‘yatra’ from Bengaluru on November 2.