Chikkamagaluru: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committe State Vice-President H. Devaraj said that the decision to lease out the encroached land of coffee growers was taken during the Congress Government’s tenure. It was not a gift from the BJP Government, he added.
Speaking at a press conference, he said that when Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minister, he had promised to give the encroached land on lease. But that was not possible because the Government had fallen. Now the BJP is playing a gimmick to get publicity,” he alleged. “The Union Budget is anti-people. All expectations werein full swing. There is not a single element in it that will benefit the people. All the prices required by farmers including fertilisers, have sky-rocketed. It has been announced that a digital app will be launched without taking any action to reduce it. This will not benefit the farmers,” he said.
“Coffee and arecanut growers have been completely destroyed. Natural calamities, and menace of wild animals are on the rise. In such a situation, expectations like loan waiver, and extension of interest waiver period have been fading,” he rued.
“There is still room for loan waiver and the Government should take steps in this regard. A programme should be formulated to bring prices under control. Farmers should get a scientific price. The Government should withdraw the cases in the farmers’ debit recovery case, he said and demanded that the deemed forest be taken back and the land should be distributed among the poor and downtrodden.
He further demanded that Shobha Karandlaje should resign as a Minister in the wake of the fact that the Budget did not benefit the farmers.
