Addresses rally in Belagavi; attacks BJP, Congress
H.D. Kumaraswamy, JD(S) State president, on Tuesday turned the north Karnataka workers’ rally into the launch of his 2018 poll campaign.
The party also turned the focus on the campaign of Mr. Kumaraswamy becoming the next Chief Minister and not the party coming to power.
At the rally in the CPEd College grounds in Belagavi, Mr. Kumaraswamy repeatedly asked the crowd to give him “another chance.” “We have been making many promises like farmers’ welfare and rural development. Just give me a chance if only to see if I can keep these promises. You have given opportunities to the BJP and the Congress. Both have betrayed you. You should give us a chance now. We know that we don’t have candidates in some seats. But we will find some candidates in such seats. Please vote for them thinking that you are voting for Mr. Kumaraswamy and not the individual candidate.”
He said that he was pained by the allegations that he refused to transfer power to B.S. Yeddyurappa after 20 months as Chief Minister. Mr. Yeddyurappa himself has confessed that I had transferred power to him, but leaders like Ananth Kumar and K.S. Eshwarappa, who were jealous of him, forced him to sign a list of conditions due to which he lost power, Mr. Kumaraswamy said. “I was never at fault, but I had to suffer for 10 years,” he said. He played a video clip of Mr. Yeddyurappa, then in the KJP, making the above statement.
Mr. Kumaraswamy criticised the BJP for hijacking the winter session over the issue of the suicide of Dy.SP Ganapati. “BJP leaders are not allowing any meaningful discussion on any issue. They are blocking the session, seeking the resignation of Minister K.J. George. They are not talking about the Mahadayi issue or the fall in prices of farm produce like groundnuts or other development issues. This shows that the BJP is not committed to the development of north Karnataka. It is misusing the winter session for political purposes,” he said.
String of promises
He made a string of promises that would be fulfilled if he became Chief Minister. “I will run the State government from Belagavi two days a week, if you give me the opportunity. We will create five lakh jobs for youth and women, by tweaking the afforestation programme. We will make sure that each landless family gets work in its own village,” he said. He promised to pay Rs. 6,000 per month to each pregnant woman for six months to meet her nutritional needs. He said senior citizens will get Rs. 5,000 per month for their life time.
He said that as Chief Minister, he had given a job to a well-qualified girl who was the daughter of a devadasi from Belagavi. But as soon as Mr. Yeddyurappa became the Chief Minister, he sacked her, he alleged.
He said he had a special relationship with Belagavi and had visited the district 19 times in his 20-month term.
Farm distress
He described the Congress government as a “shameless government” that had created such farm distress that over 3,000 farmers had committed suicide. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced a farm loan waiver, but has not released the money to cooperative banks to make good their losses, he alleged.
“All the farmers who are planning to commit suicide, I ask you to please wait for six months. We will come to power and create such conditions that you will never need to commit suicide,” he said.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made “false promises” to the people only to come to power and was not worried about their welfare now.
