Tobacco farmers’ woes had no bearing on Hunsur bypoll outcome

Even though Hunsur Assembly constituency, which faced bypolls recently, is a key tobacco growing region in the State, the woes of the tobacco farmers are not believed to have had any impact on the outcome of the poll.

The byelections were held at a time when tobacco auctions were under way and the price of poor grade tobacco had collapsed in the market.

But, the misery of tobacco farmers, who constitute a sizable number, had little or no impact on the outcome, according to tobacco farmers.

For, the verdict was determined by a host of other reasons including popularity of Congress candidate H.P. Manjunath, BJP candidate A.H. Vishwanath’s perceived betrayal and transfer of a substantial number of votes from the JD(S) to Congress.

The Vice-President of VFC Tobacco Growers Federation of Karnataka, B.N. Jayaram, told The Hindu that the farmers face uncertainty in prices during November-December every year and they are aware that the prices are determined by international demand.

Hunsur is home to 10,000 to 15,000 licensed and 8,000 to 10,000 unlicensed growers. If the growers’ families and labourers are taken into account, the numbers swell to 40,000 to 50,000 voters.

Even though the people in some villages like Agrahara had questioned Mr. Vishwanath during the campaign about redressing the tobacco growers’ grievances, Mr. Jayaram said he was sure that the verdict had little to do with tobacco growers’ problems.

The BJPmay have feared that the tobacco issue will affect its prospects, but it was not the case, according to Mr. Jayaram.

“The BJP lost for a whole lot of reasons other than tobacco growers’ woes”, said President of VFC Tobacco Growers’ Federation of Karnataka B.V. Javare Gowda, adding that voting was more on caste lines with the Congress candidate drawing the votes of a majority of Kurubas, minorities and a section of Vokkaligas, who feared that their vote for JD(S) may help BJP win, besides the Dalits.

It may be mentioned here that woes of the farmers had increased this year in view of the higher output of poor quality tobacco following heavy rains. “The output of poor quality tobacco had increased in Karnataka as well as neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Hence, it was natural that the prices collapsed as the buyers had the option of purchasing the commodity in Andhra Pradesh as well”, said Mr. Jayaram.