GULBARGA: Former Minister and president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) M. Mallikarjun Kharge has alleged that the changing stand of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on waiver of farm loans is only creating more confusion and uncertainty in the minds of the people. He said the Chief Minister should not change his original stand of waiving the loans taken from all banks.

Reacting sharply to the Chief Minister's statement that the farm loan waiver would be limited to those taken by the farmers from cooperative banks, Mr. Kharge told The Hindu here on Sunday that the decision would not benefit most farmers as the cooperative banking system in the State was not very strong.

He said that of the 70-lakh landholding farmers in the State, the cooperative banks covered only around 17 lakh of them, of whom only around 12.5 lakh had taken loans from these banks. In some districts, including Kolar, the entire cooperative banking system had collapsed and no farmer had been provided loans.

Mr. Kharge said the Mr. Kumaraswamy was in the habit of making policy statements and later trying to wriggle out of his responsibilities by watering them down. He said the Chief Minister had announced the loan waiver in a unilateral manner without consulting Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa or discussing it in the Cabinet.

He said the Congress had welcomed the Chief Minister's announcement on the loan waiver and he should stick to his original proposal.

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