The day after sugarcane farmers surrounded IT city Bengaluru demanding Minimum support price for their crop, the issue now has become political. The blame game also started between the coalition Government and the Opposition BJP. State BJP president BS Yeddyurappa extended his party’s support to the farmers’ protest but also blamed Kumaraswamy for insulting farmers in the State. At a Press conference in Bengaluru on Tuesday Yeddyurappa attacked both Chief Minister Kumaraswamy and his father farmer Prime Minister HD Devegowda as opportunists.
He also called for a State wide agitation on Wednesday against the apathy of the Government in dealing with the farmers. He also hit out against Chief Minister for insulting a woman farmer who was protesting demanding support price for sugarcane at Belagavi.
He came down heavily against JDS-Cong coalition govt and alleged that the State Govt has failed to fix FRP for sugarcane even after the Union Govt announcing Fair Remunerative Price(FRP) three months back. He said the State should fix State Advisory Price (SAP) but Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has failed to take the issue seriously.
Yeddyurappa said that the Centre had taken various measures to benefit the cane growers such as hiking ethanol rate, allowing ethanol export, soft loans to factories and minimum sugar buying price at Rs 29 per KG. ‘’But the state has failed to pass on all these benefits to farmers by fixing SAP,’’ he alleged.
Sugarcane growers are on a warpath against the state government in support of their various demands which include the government should ensure timely payment for their produce by sugar mill owners and they clear all arrears. Most of the mill owner are ministers and the mills are owned by the leaders of both the BJP and the Congress.
Yeddyurappa said BJP will plan to hold state-wide agitation and a rally at Belagavi before the beginning of Winter Session in the border-city Belagavi from December 10.
" We will also fight for the farmers both inside and outside the House. We extend our full support to farmers, particularly the cane growers," he added.
The BJP leader condemned Kumaraswamy’s statement on Monday that only some fringe groups, that were not really bothered about farmers’ interests, were involved in the agitation in the name of sugarcane farmers.
‘’This kind of statement itself is insult to Karnataka’s people and democracy . It is the Congress people who went begging to JD(S) President H D Devegowda asking his son to make Chief Minister should think over Kumaraswamy's remarks. If Congress leaders had any self respect should suggest him to implement his decision or quit the post if he failed to come to the rescue of farmers, which he committed,’’ he said.
He advised the Chief Minister to accept criticism gracefully in public life. ‘’Why farmers had gate crashed Suvarna Soudha if the Chief Minister who promised to meet them at Belgavi had gone there. Mr Kumaraswamy himself promised to meet them at Belagavi and backtracked,’’ he asked.
Farmers are protesting in Belagavi for the last few days demanding clearance of their pending arrears by sugar factories for the cane supplied and announcement of purchase price for sugarcane for the current season.
They had intensified their protest Sunday by "gate crashing" their loaded trucks into "Suvarna Vidhana Soudha", the legislature complex in northern district, protesting Kumaraswamy's cancellation of his scheduled visit to meet farmers.
Kumaraswamy, you and Devegowda are most opportunistic" politicians in the country," Yeddyurappa said, while attacking the duo for repeatedly not keeping their promises.
“They say I had gone to their door to make me chief minister, you should be ashamed to make such statements," he said, recalling that it was Kumaraswamy who quit the Dharm Singh lead Congress-JD(S) coalition in 2006 and joined hands with the BJP to form the coalition government.
Accusing Devegowda of insulting former chief ministers like Ramkrishna Hegde and S R Bommai, he said the father-son duo had also insulted former chief minister Siddaramaiah by trying to end his political career by ensuring his loss in the Chamundeshwari assembly constituency in Mysuru.
As the war of words reached pinnacle, Kumaraswamy who held talks with the farmers blamed BJP for instigating the protests. He said he was with the farmers and ready to do anything for them. He blamed BJP and its decisive politics in the country.