Karnataka - Mysore   

Congress, BJP, JD(S) trade charges

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, MARCH 25. An interactive session with district unit presidents of the Congress, the Janata Dal (Secular), and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) organised by the Mysore District Journalists' Association here today turned out to be a forum for politicians to criticise their rivals.

While the President of the district unit of the Congress, H. Subbaiah, highlighted the achievements of the S.M. Krishna Government, the Janata Dal(S) unit President, G.T. Deve Gowda, recalled the contributions of the previous Janata Dal Government to the growth of the State and held the Congress responsible for the problems faced by the State.

However, the BJP unit President, C.H. Vijayshankar, who is the party nominee for the Mysore Lok Sabha seat, apparently misread the purpose of the session and declared that he was launching his "election campaign'' on the occasion. However, the association president, Rajashekar Koti, brought to the BJP leader's notice that the session was not a forum for him to launch his "election campaign" but to discuss the issues faced by the people of the region.

The leaders of the three parties, however, expressed divergent views on the issue of support price for farm produce and the causes for suicide by farmers. When Mr. Vijayshankar blamed the State Government for suicide by farmers claiming that agriculture was a State subject, Mr. Deve Gowda supported Mr. Subbaiah arguing that it was the duty of the Centre to formulate an agricultural policy. However, Mr. Deve Gowda accused the Congress Government of failing to provide relief to the affected farmers.

Mr. Subbaiah said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government's trade policy was the reason for the fall in prices of farm produce. Mr. Vijayshankar said the State Government and the Centre should share the support price fixed by the Delhi-based Agriculture Commission.

During the session, the leaders of the three parties claimed that their party would form the next Government in the State. Mr. Subbaiah predicted the Congress victory in the coming elections to the Assembly claiming that the State Government had constituted the Veeresh Committee to probe the causes for suicide by farmers and had paid compensation to the kin of the victims. While the previous Government had failed to provide houses to the poor, the Congress Government had built eight lakh houses. The Akshara Dasoha Scheme had helped in reducing the school dropout rate to an extent, he claimed.

Mr. Vijayshankar claimed that the BJP would form the next Government in the State. The party had emerged as the principal Opposition party in the State after the 1994 and 1999 elections. With elections to the Assembly and the Lok Sabha to be held simultaneously, the BJP would win both the polls.

He said the BJP-led NDA Government had introduced a crop insurance scheme for the benefit of farmers. Besides, it had reduced the rate of interest on farm loans from 18 per cent to nine, he claimed.

Mr. Deve Gowda predicted that the JD(S) would win the coming elections and the State unit President, Siddaramaiah, would be the next Chief Minister.

He reserved much of his address to criticising the Congress. "The only achievement of the Congress Government is the suicide by farmers,'' he said and added that the Government had not made any effort to provide drinking water to rural areas affected by drought. He blamed the Centre and the State Government for the closure of industries in and around Mysore.

"The JD(S) will win all the 16 Assembly seats in Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts,'' he claimed.

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