MYSURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has demanded the immediate arrest of business tycoon Gautam Adani, who the United States has indicted for bribing officials in India and misleading US investors. Speaking to the media here, he questioned the delay in Adani’s arrest, even after an arrest warrant was issued, and wanted to know who was preventing his arrest. Asked whether Adani’s arrest warrant has tarnished the image of the country, he said the nation knows who is protecting Adani and wanted the media to tell the people.
The Central government has betrayed Karnataka’s farmers by cutting 58 per cent of NABARD grants given in the form of loans to farmers at 4.5 per cent interest, Siddaramaiah said. The cut in grant from NABARD will compel the state to go to commercial banks, and pay a high rate of 10 to 12 per cent interest.
He said they have appealed to Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, to look into their plea and set right the anomaly by allocating Rs 9,000 crore grant to the state.
He also criticised Union Minister Pralhad Joshi for defending the Centre’s 58 per cent cut in grant from NABARD, and questioned the silence of Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who claims to work for farmers’ cause.
Siddaramaiah said the government is firm on cancelling BPL cards of income tax payees and government employees. He said the norms for BPL cards were formulated by the previous BJP government, and that the Centre had cancelled BPL cards but is protesting cancellation of cards in Karnataka.
Recalling that BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi opposed the UPA government’s Food Security Act and had called it the ‘Vote Security Act’. It was the Congress that introduced the 7kg rice scheme which former CM BS Yediyurappa had reduced to 5kg. He accused the BJP of misleading people and making baseless charges against the Congress government when they increased rice quantity from 5kg to 10kg.