BANGALORE: The Congress on Tuesday demanded that the Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition Government should come out with a White Paper on how it proposes to raise funds to implement Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's promise of waiving farmers' loans.

Addressing a press conference in Bangalore, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Mallikarjun M. Kharge said farmers had borrowed nearly Rs. 12,500 crore from the cooperative as well as nationalised banks.

The proposed White Paper should include details on how much of funds would be earmarked for waiving the loans and how the Government would arrange funds for other ongoing development schemes.

`Impractical'

Mr. Kharge ridiculed the Chief Minister for stating that funds for the loan waiver would be raised by recovering and auctioning the encroached government land. Wondering whether it was possible to recover the encroached land immediately, the Congress leader termed the Chief Minister's statement as "childish and an eye-wash".

He accused the Chief Minister of trying to hoodwink farmers through such statements.

He had the habit of making big announcements to divert public attention whenever his party was dogged by internal problems, Mr. Kharge alleged.

Mr. Kharge said the Congress was not against recovering the encroached government land. It was not even opposing the joint legislature panel that was looking into the land encroachments in and around Bangalore.

But the party was not happy with the Speaker's decision to ignore the party's recommendation to replace some of the members on the panel.

No explanation sought

He evaded a direct reply when asked if the party had served notice to its MLA R. Roshan Baig for ignoring the party's instructions to desist from signing the above committee's interim report. He said the party High Command had not sought any explanation from the KPCC on the alleged involvement of any Congress leaders in land scam as reported in the media.

Criticising the Chief Minister for holding intra-party consultations with legislators at a resort in Pune, Mr. Kharge argued that instead he could have concentrated on getting the funds released by the Centre for various development schemes, including the rehabilitation package for farmers.

He suspected that the Janata Dal (S) would not hand over the Chief Minister's post to the BJP after the completion of its 20-month tenure.

He accused the BJP of shielding the fundamentalist forces.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail