Janata Dal (S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy has alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is siphoning off tax payers’ money from Karnataka to Delhi, instead of using public money on the welfare of the people of the State.
In a brief chat with presspersons on the second day of his padayatra from Dharwad to Belagavi on Friday, he said the Chief Minister should use the tax payers’ money deposited in the treasury to help the needy farmers.
“You are looting taxes collected from the people, under the pretext of various programmes, to send it to Delhi. Stop this. First use the money to pay sugarcane price dues to the growers immediately,” Mr. Kumarswamy said.
He was accompanied by party leaders and workers, including the former minister Bandeppa Kashampur.
The farmers had been agitating for dues for nearly two years and the issue was also debated in the legislature on several occasions. Yet, the government was unable take a concrete stand and provide justice to the growers, he said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah also did not bother to give an assurance to protect the family of sugarcane grower Gurunath Mallikarjun Chapgaon of Badal Ankalgi, who had committed suicide recently, Mr. Kumaraswamy said.
