Committed to waive farm loans: Karnataka CM
Bengaluru, June 19: Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S)-Congress coalition government is committed to waiving farm loans.
"I am soon going to call a meeting with the nationalised banks to figure out the modalities to waive loans of farmers in a scientific way. Our government is highly committed to waiving farm loans," Kumaraswamy said at his maiden press conference here after assuming office on May 23.
The Chief Minister, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a two-day visit to New Delhi starting Sunday, said he has requested the Central government to bear 50 per cent of cost of the farm loans the state government plans to waive.
"As we are ready to waive loans to free farmers from debt, I request the Central government to provide 50 per cent financial support to our initiative," the JD-S leader had said at the fourth meeting of the governing council of Niti Aayog.
He also wrote to the Prime Minister on Monday to allocate 25 per cent of Rs 2 lakh-crore special bonds the Central government plans to raise to bail-out state-run banks to waive farm loans across the country.
Admitting that his JD-S did not receive people's mandate, the Chief Minister said his government will work for the all round development of the state and its citizens.
"The state government will work towards presenting a scheme which allows all the farmers to get loans without any difficulty."
The JD-S leader promised in the party's election manifesto that it would waive farm loans within 24 hours of assuming office if it was voted to power with a majority.
"Since we were not voted to power with a majority, we need to discuss with the other leaders in the coalition government," he said.
The Chief Minister who was late by 90 minutes for the press conference at Press Club in the city centre said he was busy with public visiting him at his home in the southern suburb.
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Election Commission has become a puppet of govt: Cong MP Ajay Maken
New Delhi (PTI): Congress Rajya Sabha member Ajay Maken on Thursday alleged that the Election Commission has "become a puppet of the government" and questioned how democracy can survive in the absence of a level playing field, transparency and credibility of the electoral process.
Initiating a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, Maken said that while India proudly claims to be the mother of democracy, the three fundamental conditions for a fair election -- level playing field, transparency, and credibility -- have been systematically undermined.
Accusing the Election Commission (EC) of refusing to provide machine-readable electoral rolls, hiding IP addresses and destroying evidence within 45 days, Maken said, "Today, the Election Commission has become a puppet of the government".
The EC's job is to win 'trust', but today its job has become to create 'suspicion', he added, citing examples of how voter turnout figures increased in Haryana assembly elections on the day of result announcement from the figures put out two days earlier.
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He said the commission remained silent when asked about the origin of extra votes and assembly and booth-wise data.
Also, he accused the EC of not providing to the CID -- which was investigating the matter of fake application forms in the Aland assembly constituency of Karnataka -- the IP address and port number of the computers from which the forms were filed.
"If the umpire wears the jersey of a team, what will the other team do? If the umpire itself fixes the match, what will the players do?" he asked.
Commenting on the absence of a level-playing field in the electoral process, Maken pointed out the growing disparity in the finances between the BJP and Congress from 2004 to 2024.
He accused the government of using various tactics to deprive the opposition parties of funds.
In the last 20 years, since 2004, the BJP's bank balance has increased from Rs 87.96 crore to Rs 10,107.2 crore, while that of Congress increased from Rs 38.48 crore to Rs 133.97 crore, Maken pointed out.
He accused the government of unleashing the ED and IT departments on Congress to deprive it of funds just ahead of elections, while also using the agencies to prevent businessmen and big industrialists from donating to the party.
"I have spoken to businessmen, big industrialists. They said that during the time of the Congress government, they used to contribute (to political parties) in a 60:40 ratio. At present, let alone 90:10, even at a 95:5 ratio, we (businesses) can't give it to you because the moment we do it, ED and IT will come after us, and we are not allowed to do anything," Maken claimed.
How can democracy survive in this situation? he wondered.
When the ruling party has 75 times more money than the Opposition, how can there possibly be a 'level playing field', Makan said, adding that all the money that went to the BJP was "all thanks to electoral bonds".
Responding to the allegations, BJP member Sudhanshu Trivedi (BJP) accused the Congress of creating a ruckus instead of availing the avenues available to them to seek redressal of their grievances.
Taking the example of a cricket match, he said, when a team feels that a batsman was out, but the umpire has not declared so, they can seek a review. However, instead of going to the umpire for review, Congress has been holding press conferences, in anticipation that the third umpire would give the decision on his own.
Trivedi wanted to know why the Congress has not asked for CCTV footage of the Bihar elections even after 45 days of polling.
On 'vote chori' allegations in Bihar, he said Congress' vote share has been reducing over the years, and what was left there to be stolen.
Hitting back at the allegation of lack of transparency, Trivedi said in the election for Congress president, in which Mallikarjun Kharge was elected, 22 Congress leaders sought voter lists, but they were not provided as per media reports.
Those who do not share the voter list for their own party election are lecturing others on transparency, he noted.
