BENGALURU: Even as the Union government clarified that it has no plans of waiving farm loans, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy claimed that information regarding Karnataka’s waiver scheme has been sought. Speaking to reporters in Belagavi on Friday, Kumaraswamy claimed that the Narendra Modi-led Union government has sought details of how Karnataka is going about implementing the massive `45,000 crore farm loan waiver, announced by the Congress-JD(S) coalition government.
The state BJP leaders have denied having any information about the supposed inquiry from the Union government.“State leaders of the BJP may speak ill of the loan waiver, but I will respond to them in the House. Post the results of the five state assembly polls, the Union government’s Finance Department has sought information on how we are going about implementing the loan waiver in Karnataka. I don’t know if they intend to copy it,” Kumaraswamy told reporters.
Kumaraswamy’s claim came even as Union Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala told the parliament on Thursday that the government was not considering a loan waiver, which would affect the credit culture and incentivise defaulters.
While Kumaraswamy claimed that the Centre was interested in his farm loan waiver, state BJP leaders denied knowledge of such an inquiry. “We welcomed the farm loan waiver the day the CM announced it, but it has only remained on paper till today. It has served no purpose apart from becoming a rhetoric for the CM over the last four months,” said S Prakash, spokesperson, BJP.
The coalition government had come under attack after Cooperation Minister Bandeppa Kashempur submitted that only 800 farmers had benefitted from the `45,000 crore loan waiver announced by Kumaraswamy.
While the government contended that they expected lakhs of farmers to apply for the waiver and benefit from it, the BJP used the figures to further its attack on the government.