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BJP resorting to theatrics to attract Dalit voters: CM

The state ministers, Congress MPs and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah have blamed the Union government of meting out a step-motherly treatment to Karnataka and said that BJP leaders in the state are enacting a drama to attract Dalit voters.

The leaders were speaking at ‘Kotta Mathu Ditta Sadhane’, a programme organised for distribution of various benefits to people of the districts in Mysuru division. The programme was organised by the district administration and the Department of Information and Public Relations at the Maharaja’s College ground here on Saturday.

The chief minister said that he would wait for a few days for the Union government’s decision on farm loans and then announce the state’s stand.

“BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa has been stating that he would bring four lakh farmers to Bengaluru to impress upon the state government to waive farm loans. Let him first convince Prime Minister Narendra Modi to waive farm loans. No BJP MP, including Shobha Karandlaje, D V Sadananda Gowda and Ananth Kumar, has raised the issue writing off agriculture loans extended by Central agencies before the Prime Minister. Modi’s predecessor Manmohan Singh had waived farm loans worth Rs 72,000 crore,” Siddaramaiah said.

The chief minister said, “Yeddyurappa has double standards when it comes to farmers’ issue. When Congress leader V S Ugrappa asked Yeddyurappa, the then chief minister, to waive farm loans in the Legislative Council, Yeddyurappa had said that he did not have a note printing machine. Farmers in the state have obtained a total loan of Rs 52,000 crore, including Rs 42,000 crore from nationalised banks,” he said.

He said BJP leaders in the state have resorted to theatrics to attract Dalit voters by visiting their house.

“Yeddyurappa and other leaders did not partake the food prepared in the Dalit’s house but ordered food from a hotel in Tumakuru. The BJP is anti-Dalit and backward classes. Former Chief Justice of Punjab and Har-
yana High Court M Rama Jois, who has aligned with the BJP, has moved the court questioning reservation for backward classes,” Siddaramaiah said.

Chamarajanagar MP R Dhruvanarayan said that the Union government has not released a single rupee for programmes like Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for road connectivity and Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana since three years. The Union government has adopted a step-motherly attitude towards Karnataka, he said.

While the state government has announced Rs 27,730 crore for development of SC/STs, the Union has earmarked only Rs 65,000 crore for the whole country, he said.

KPCC president G Parameshwara said that the Gross Domestic Product, which was 11.4% in 2010 during the tenure of Congress in the Centre, has dipped to 7.6% in 2013 and 6.1% after demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

“India was the fastest growing economy in the world then, but now China is growing faster. The Congress party in the state has given a clean and stable governance for four years. We have our own Karnataka Development Model and we don’t follow Uttar Pradesh or Gujarat models,” he said.

“Congress is the only political party speaking about the welfare of Dalits. Karnataka state is the only government in the country reserving huge funds for the development of SC/ST communities. The state has sanctioned Rs 80,000 crore in the last four years, including free foreign education and has provided free laptops to students,” Parameshwara said.

He said that the Opposition leaders are speaking about farmers’ issues and are wearing green shawls. Though 1,000 farmers committed suicides in the state in 2016-17, the Union government has not come forward to provide compensation or to motivate the distressed farmers, he said.

Former Union minister Oscar Fernandes said that Karnataka is a model state and he compared Siddaramaiah to economist Chanakya for his programmes.

Ministers U T Khader, R Roshan Baig, H Anjaneya, A Manju, MLAs Kalale N Keshavamurthy, Vasu, Somashekar, Venkatesh and H P Manjunath were also present.