New BJP State unit president B.Y. Vijayendra turned the party’s farmers rally in Belagavi into a platform to kick off the Lok Sabha poll campaign on Wednesday.
Addressing the rally, he said that the Congress government is indifferent to the issues being faced by farmers across the State. “The Congress came to power by giving several assurances about farmers welfare. But it has failed in fulfilling them. You should teach the party a lesson in the Lok Sabha polls by electing BJP nominees in all the 28 seats in the State,” he said.
“We demand that the government immediately waive all loans with interest. Officers from banks and cooperatives are going around in villages recovering loans. It should stop immediately. There is no water and fodder for cattle. Farmers have been asked to pay installation costs for irrigation pumpsets. We have no faith in the Congress or Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The agitation that has started in Belagavi will spread to all corners of the State,” he said.
He said that the State government should immediately release compensation for drought-induced crop loss. “We demand higher compensation for cash crops such as sugarcane and grape. This should be done without wasting any time. But the government is not interested in doing it. It is more interested in announcing funds for minority welfare. The Chief Minister has announced ₹10,000 crore for minority welfare and not for farmers,” he said.
“As Chief Minister, B.S. Yediyurappa built the Suvarna Soudha so that it can be used to discuss people’s problems and farmers issues. But its purpose has not been fulfilled. The State government is wasting the precious time of the Legislature. It has become a habit for all Congress Ministers to blame the Union government for everything that goes wrong,” he said.
He said that Mr. Yediyurappa happily joined the farmers rally as he is always willing to fight for farmers. “We should all support him,” he said.
‘Rakshasa Gana ruling’
The former Deputy Chief Minister K.S. Eshwarappa said that the State is going through a very bad time. In ancient times, there were Gods ruling the earth. Now, we are being ruled by Rakshasa Gana, he said.
“The first Rakshasa Gana is D.K. Shivakumar who deserves to be in jail but keeps saying that he will conduct an inquiry into corruption allegations against the former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and his government. The second Rakshasa Gana is the anti-national Zameer Ahmed Khan who said that the Congress appointed a Muslim as Speaker who needs to be saluted by all. Should he live in India or Pakistan?” he said.
“The third Rakshasa Gana is Home Minister G. Parameshwara who considers even major communal disturbance as minor issues. The fourth Rakshasa Gana is Priyank Kharge who vows to remove Veer Savarkar’s portrait from the Assembly Hall. I want to tell him that not even his father can remove the image of the great freedom fighter. The fifth and most important Rakshasa Gana is Siddaramaiah who is a pathetic liar. He deserves a Nobel prize for telling lies,” he said.
Mr. Eshwarappa also said that the Chief Minister and his son are involved in major corruption involving transfer of officials.
