The Bharatiya Janata Party will hold a massive rally of farmers in Belagavi on December 10 coinciding with the commencement of the Assembly session the same day. This is in protest against the “governments failure to ensure sugarcane farmers’ dues are paid and it’s failure in drought relief measures.”
B.S. Yeddyurappa, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and party State president, said the BJP will hold protests in all district and taluk headquarters against Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, for his “insensitive remarks” against farmers on Wednesday.
He demanded that all dues of sugarcane farmers be cleared and the government fix the procurement price for sugarcane and a minimum support price (MSP) to support farmers.
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In the farmers’ protest rally, the BJP will also take up other farmers issues, including farm loan waiver and lack of drought relief. “The Chief Minister claims he is pro-farmer. But after he has come to power, over 220 farmers have committed suicide and there is drought in over 100 taluks. Still, the government is not providing adequate drought relief,” he said. Mr. Yeddyurappa came down heavily on Mr. Kumaraswamy and said he must apologise for his remarks on farmers. The BJP also alleged that farmers were distressed as the government has not fixed the sugarcane purchase price. It demanded that the sugarcane regulation committee be re-activated and the government fix the State Advisory Price (SAP), the price at which sugar factories are mandated to buy sugarcane.