BJP will waive crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh in K'taka: Rajnath

SEDAM (K'taka): Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said all crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh given to farmers in Karnataka would be waived when a BJP government comes to power in the state.

Election to the 224-member Karnataka assembly is due on May 12.

Campaigning for the BJP here, Singh claimed that over 3,800 farmers had committed suicide during the five-year rule of the Congress government in Karnataka.

"Our party will waive all crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh given to farmers after coming to power in Karnataka," he said.

Singh said crop loans were given at zero per cent interest rate when BJP chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa was the chief minister.

"Yeddyurappa ran a farmerfriendly government in the state," he said at an election rally here.

Singh said after so many suicides, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced just Rs 1 lakh for the families of farmers who had committed suicide.

"Sidde Sarkar is Nidde Sarkar (the Siddaramaiah government is a sleeping government). The people of Karnataka brought them to power and they remained in deep slumber all these years," he said.

Referring to the Congress's fiveyear rule in Karnataka, the minister said the law and order situation in the state was a matter of grave concern and claimed that even top-level officers do not feel safe in the state.

"Congress has adopted Kerala's model of political violence in the state," he said.

Singh said after coming to power in Karnataka, the BJP government will constitute a Special Investigation Cell under a woman police officer to investigate pending cases of crimes against women. "We will also increase the number of women in the police (force). The Home Ministry had issued 33 per cent reservation advisory to all states," he said.

The senior BJP leader alleged that development was absent from Karnataka and it had disappeared from the state.