Waiver of farm loans just for publicity, says JD(S)

Kalaburagi: Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Bahujan Samaj Party and Janata Dal (Secular) criticised Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala’s decision at a joint press conference here on Thursday. CPI(M) leader Maruti Manpade said that the Governor was like a puppet in the hands of the BJP and the RSS since he had invited the BJP to form the government in the State, despite the fact that the party did not possess the required numbers to do so.

Manpade cited the examples of the Assembly elections in Bihar, Nagaland, Goa, Meghalaya and Jammu & Kashmir, where the BJP was invited to form the government in a post-poll coalition and condemned the Governor for not following the same procedure in Karnataka. He also added that the BJP and its leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi were “hell-bent on destroying democracy and the Constitution.”

District Secretary of the JD(S) Devegowda Tellur claimed that providing a 15-day period for the BJP to prove its majority on the floor was an incentive for the party to indulge in ‘horse trading’. He also criticised Chief Minister Yeddyurappa’s announcement of waiving farm loans up to Rs. 1 lakh borrowed from nationalised banks. “Having no majority in the House, it is just a care-taker government. It cannot take major decisions till it proves its majority. Waiver of farm loans was meant not for implementation, but for publicity,” he said.