Congress members confront KS Naveen of BJP after his remarks targeting CM DK Shivakumar
He said govt has so far spent Rs 331 crore, which worked out to about Rs 356 per family for the 86 lakh households dependent on agriculture and allied sectors. He said only Rs 25 crore, or about Rs 29 per family, was spent on fodder. Nanjegowda, also Karnataka Milk Federation president, said dairy farmers get Rs 35 per litre while the average price across the country is higher. He sought a Rs 10 increase in the price of milk. Kunigal MLA Rangasamy backed the demand, saying a Rs 8-10 increase would provide relief to dairy farmers. Other BJP and JD(S) members joined Narayanaswamy, and the House was subsequently adjourned for 10 minutes.
“Our CM had the time to meet (Gautam) Adani, envisage a Rs 28,000 crore tunnel road and sanction lakhs of rupees worth of tenders but did not foresee the need to conduct meetings to mitigate drought,” Bellad said. He accused govt of being preoccupied with “finalising the cabinet” after Shivakumar took oath on June 3 instead of taking proactive measures to tackle drought. “Let the govt clarify how many meetings were held before the monsoon failed,” he said. “Is this enough?” he asked. The opposition also demanded Congress’ BK Hariprasad’s remark alleging Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “killed 800 farmers” be expunged. Ahmed said it would be removed “if found incorrect”.
In the assembly, deputy opposition leader Arvind Bellad of BJP accused chief minister DK Shivakumar of failing to anticipate the severity of drought despite forecasts of a poor monsoon. He contrasted govt’s alleged inaction on drought preparedness with CM holding meetings on major projects with industrialists. Bellad also questioned expenditure incurred on drought relief. Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, council LoP, walked out after Congress members repeatedly interrupted his speech. In one instance, minister Santosh Lad intervened to cite figures relating to direct benefit transfers.