Urging for a rollback of the hike in the price of fertilizers, the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Sunday said the Union Minister for Fertiliser and Chemicals D.V. Sadananda Gowda should speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for continuation of full subsidy.
“The Minister should seek continuation of ₹1.55 lakh crore subsidy towards fertilizers. Currently, the subsidy has been halved by the Union government,” he said on Twitter. “The fertilizer rate has been increased by 60%.” He said that Mr. Gowda’s announcement that he would be holding talks with representatives of fertilizers companies would not help solve the problem.
The former Chief Minister said that while the BJP had been pretending to be soft on farmers, it has actually backstabbed them.
He also reminded that the BJP government had resorted to firing on farmers within hours after assuming power.
Mr. Kumaraswamy said, “Lip sympathy towards farmers, keeping an eye on votes, will not help the farmers. At least now, help farmers to build a sustainable livelihood and withdraw the hike effected on fertilizers.”
