B.S. Yeddyurappa, president, BJP State unit, has urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to announce ₹1,000 support prices for sugarcane, groundnut and paddy growers helping them to recover the losses incurred.
Presently, the Union government has fixed ₹5,400 per quintal for green gram, followed by ₹4,400 per quintal for groundnut, ₹1,425 per quintal for maize and ₹2,250 per ton for sugarcane. But, the State government should announce support prices, he added.
He was speaking at the Parivarthana Yatra in Surpur in Yadgir on Tuesday. Mr. Yeddyurappa, who has criticised the State government for not helping resolve the agrarian crisis, said that farmers, who depended on seasonal rain were facing crop losses every year owing to shortage of rain, should be helped with irrigation schemes through allocation of grants in the budget.
Schemes implemented
Listing out the schemes that he had implemented during his tenure as Chief Minister, Mr. Yeddyurappa said Mr. Siddaramaiah had created hurdles to the schemes by bringing in new guidelines. “Bhagyalaxmi, Suvarna Gramodaya, Cycle for schoolchildren, Sandhya Suraksha and other similar schemes were not reaching people,” he pointed out.
“I assure you all gathered here that I will give you a pro-people government if you bless me in the next Assembly elections,” Mr. Yeddyuarappa said.
Narasimha Naik, former Minister, who was defeated in the last election in 2013 when he contested election by a JD(S) ticket, said, “I committed a mistake in the last Assembly election but I can’t make the same mistake in the future. Therefore, people should bless me along with Mr. Yeddyurappa to keep anti-people and anti-farmer Chief Minister Siddaramaiah away from power.”
Around 15,000 people were present. Former Union Minister D. Purandeswari; former Minister Revu Naik Belamagi; Baburao Chawan; Dattatraya Patil, MLA, Doddappa Gowda Patil Naribol; Chandrashekhar Gowda Magnur, president, district unit, BJP, and others were present.
Comparing Gujarat and Karnataka
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, appealed to Rahul Gandhi, vice-president, AICC, to compare Gujarat and Karnataka in terms of development. He stated that Gujarat was more developed than Karnataka. She was speaking at the Parivarthana Yatra organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Yadgir recently .
Ms. Jyoti, criticising the Congress, said persons from backward communities have occupied the two top posts in the country.
“Ramnath Kovind and Narendra Modi have become President and Prime Minister of India though they did not have any background as far as the community is concerned. It happened because of the party’s belief in equality,” she said and added that in Congress Manmohan Singh was the only person from a non-Gandhi family who reached a top post.
‘Still undeveloped’
The Fatehpur MP also criticised M. Mallikarjun Kharge, former Union Minister and MP of Kalaburagi under which Yadgir district would come, saying that though Mr. Kharge had been representing the district from four decades now, it remained undeveloped.
Commending the PM for demonetisation, Ms. Jyoti said that under Mr. Modi’s leadership, the BJP will root out Congress in the coming elections and make a ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’. Therefore people of the State should vote against the Congress and elect BJP for a pro-people government.
