Hubballi, Oct 2: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders from the State should take a delegation to prevail upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release funds for drought relief, instead of holding the Raitha Chaitanya Yatra.
Terming the yatre as “BJP Chaitanya Yatra”, he said that the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa had become desperate because of various cases against him and non-cooperation from within his party and that was the reason for his incoherent statements.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said that although the State government had been seeking assistance for drought relief since August, barring the visit of a Central team, nothing had happened. The official loss had been put at Rs. 3,600 crore, but till date the Centre had not extended any assistance, he said.
The Chief Minister said that the State government had announced waiver of interest on loans to mitigate the sufferings of farmers. “If the BJP leaders are really concerned about farmers, they should prevail upon the Union government to waive the loan taken by farmers from nationalised banks,” he said.
To a query, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that Cabinet expansion would take place after the visit of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to the State on October 9 and 10. The issue would be discussed with the central leaders and steps for Cabinet expansion would be initiated, he added.
Comments
Add new comment