Karnataka Elections 2018 : Farmers are in distress but a loan waiver may not help

Karnataka’s farmers, battling drought and water shortage, have been under dire financial duress.

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018 » The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) manifesto for the Karnataka assembly elections 2018 released on May 4, 2018, declared that farm loans upto Rs 100,000 in nationalised banks and cooperative societies would be waived. A few days earlier, the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate and party state president B.S. Yeddyurappa promised a waiver of agriculture loans in both nationalised banks and cooperative societies if his party came to power, hoping, as a consequence, he said, for a 3-4% rise in vote share for his party.

As Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, running the only Congress government in southern India, tries to remain in favour of the electorate ahead of the May 12 elections to the state assembly, he has his task cut out. Among other steps, the government waived Rs 8,165 crore of farm loans from cooperative banks in 2017, claiming this would benefit more than 2.2 million farmers.

Rural Karnataka, which accounts for 154 (69%) of the state’s 224 legislative constituencies, has to remain the primary focus. Karnataka’s farmers, battling drought and water shortage, have been under dire financial duress, and how well the Siddaramaiah government is seen to handle this challenge will be among the factors that will determine a positive outcome for his government.

While the government is implementing the farm loan waiver, experts believe that the such a move will help in the short-run to win elections, but will not help in the welfare of farmers in the long term till agriculture is made more remunerative.

In both districts, families in which farmers had killed themselves said the ex-gratia compensation of Rs 500,000 had not diminished their loan burden, primarily because erratic rainfall and unremunerative prices have squeezed incomes, perpetuating dependence on moneylenders.

Nevertheless, the farmers and their families said they appreciated the support provided by the government in the form of loan waivers and ex-gratia compensation, despite delays in paying out monthly pensions. Farmers we spoke to in Yadgir said that they would vote for the present government, while in Mandya which has strong Vokkaliga (sect) presence and is a Janata Dal (Secular) stronghold, they are undecided, although they were not unhappy with the government.

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Karnataka Elections 2018: Narendra Modi chides Congress; Siddaramaiah reminds him of 'Reddy gang'

There is a fierce competition between the BJP and Congress for Karnataka Assembly election 2018. PM Modi and Yogi Adityanath will address rallies in Karnataka today. Catch Karnataka polls 2018 updates.

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018 » Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were in battleground Karnataka on Thursday, crossing swords over a plethora of issues including corruption, ahead of the May 12 voting to elect a new government in the state.

While Modi played a nationalism card and accused the Congress of promoting only one family, Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at him for his “personal attacks” that “doesn’t behove” of a person holding a high office.

Modi alleged that the Congress had insulted the Indian Army by questioning the truth behind 2016 surgical strikes against terrorists in Pakistan. He said the Congress was spreading “lies” by accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being anti-Dalit, anti-Muslim and anti-women.

Seeking to give an adrenaline boost to BJP campaign to wrest the state from the Congress and form its government for a second time, Modi addressed three election meetings and Rahul Gandhi four during their whirlwind trip.

The Karnataka government is a “gold medalist” in corruption and Congress leaders are “drunk on power”, Modi told a public meeting in state capital Bengaluru.

Dubbing the Siddaramaiah government as “seedha rupaiah government” (corrupt), a punning allusion to the chief minister’s name, Modi said an ordinary man cannot get done any work without bribing officials. “Because of this seedha rupaiah government Karnataka is immersed in debt,” he told an election rally in Ballari.

In the line of Congress fire over the BJP granting party tickets to Reddy brothers, accused of involvement in a humongous illegal iron ore mining scam, the prime minister hit back. “This Karnataka government frustrated all attempts by the Centre to stop illegal mining in Ballari….to allow the auction of mining blocks. But the Siddaramaiah government failed to formulate a mining policy in five years,” he told an election rally in Ballari.

Rahul Gandhi, who addressed election rallies in Aurad, Bhaki, Humnabad and Bidar, slammed Modi for personal attacks against him. Gandhi, however, said whether the attacks on him were right or wrong, he would not make any personal attack on Modi because he was the prime minister.

He questioned his silence over the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal and fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi who defrauded the Punjab National Bank of thousands of crores of rupees.

Rahul Gandhi said Modi had promised to deposit Rs 1.5 million (Rs 15 lakh) each in poor citizens’ bank accounts but didn’t do it. Gandhi said Modi also promised 20 million (two crore) jobs to the youth every year and higher minimum support price to farmers but he did none of this.

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Karnataka Elections 2018 : Can Narendra Modi bring in the 20-30 extra seats that BJP needs?

Until now, the BJP has struggled to strike a chord among voters beyond its traditional support base of Lingayats, upper castes and urban voters.

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018 » Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address nearly 20 public meetings over the next 10-days ahead of Karnataka elections, three of which he addresses today. The respective leaderships of the three principal political players in the contest have awaited Narendra Modi‘s entry into the Karnataka poll campaign with anticipation. It has been the only imponderable in an election campaign that has followed a predictable course in the last few weeks.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Hindutva project in Karnataka has run into the wall of deeply entrenched caste loyalties, and the absence of any significant anti-incumbency against the Siddaramaiah government. As things stand, it has again fallen on the shoulders of the PM to rescue his party from a certain defeat, but also to stop the Congress’ march towards the majority mark of 113-seats in the 224-member assembly. The polling is on May 12, and counting of votes on May 15.

Until now, the Bharatiya Janata Party has struggled to strike a chord among voters beyond its traditional support base of Lingayats, upper castes and urban voters. Even among the Lingayats, the Siddaramaiah government’s recommendation to the Centre to grant minority status to the community is likely to eat into the BJP’s vote share, particularly where the Congress has fielded Lingayat candidates. Several of the smaller Lingayat Mathas run educational institutions clearly understand the benefits minority status will accrue to these institutions immediately, and to the community in the long term.

While erroneous, they have conveyed to their followers that the benefits to the community would be similar to what the Scheduled Castes get. The Vokkaligas continue to stand behind HD Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular), while there are indications that Siddaramaiah’s AHINDA – a Kannada acronym for tribals, dalits, minorities and OBCs, including Kurubas – have found a reason in his government’s social welfare schemes to continue their support to him.

People across all castes agree that BS Yeddyurappa, in terms of social welfare schemes, ran an effective government. But Siddaramaiah government has been more effective in building awareness about its schemes, which came at a crucial time. Some of the regions of the state have faced three successive years of drought.

Even the Lingayats, because of the teachings of their 12th century philosopher Basavanna, aren’t as amenable to the appeal of aggressive Hindutva as in northern India. The question gnawing BJP-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leadership and rank and file is whether Modi will be able to work his magic in Karnataka.

Karnataka Elections 2018 : Siddaramaiah gets ticket, no ‘one-family, one-ticket’ rule

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on April 8 announced the first list of its 72 candidates for the Karnataka Assembly election 2018, to be held on May 12.

Karnataka Elections 2018 : After months of speculation and six days of consultation, the All India Congress Committee on Sunday released the complete list of 218 candidates who will be contesting the Karnataka Assembly Election 2018, scheduled on May 12. Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah will contest from Chamundeshwari. Siddaramaiah’s son Yatheendra has also received a ticket — he will be fighting the election from Varuna constituency.

State party chief G Parameshwara will be in the fray from the Korategere seat. Veteran Congress Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge, the state minister for Information Technology, will contest from the Chittapur constituency. The final candidates’ list contains the names of 112 sitting MLAs — only 10 sitting MLAs have not received tickets.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on April 8 announced its first list of 72 candidates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah discussed the names of the candidates at the BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting on Sunday. The party is all set to release the second set of candidates’ names in a few days, according to media reports.

Karnataka will go to the polls on May 12. The last date for filing the nominations for the 224 constituencies is April 24, while April 27 is the last date for withdrawal of candidature. Will Siddaramaiah be able to maintain his bastion or will Modi magic work again? The results will be known on May 15.

Out of the 224 constituencies, 173 are reserved for the general category, 36 for the Scheduled Caste (SC) and 15 for the Scheduled Tribe (ST). Congress party has fielded 15 women, 14 Muslims, three Christians and two Jains in Karnataka poll fray. In 2013 Assembly Elections, there were only 10 women contesting the polls.

Two former BJP MLAs — Anand Singh and businessman B Nagendra — whose names have been mentioned in the illegal iron ore mining racket, have been given tickets in Bellary region.

There are six seats where the Congress has not announced candidates are Sindgi, Nagthan, Melukote, Kittur, Raichur and Shantinagar. In Melukote, the ruling party may support Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha.

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Lingayat Row: Congress one-up on BJP with Karnataka poll gambit? 10 points

Living mostly in North Karnataka, Lingayats constitute 17% of state population. Since their vote is seen as decisive in 110 of the 224 Assembly seats, Lingayats are considered politically powerful.

Breaking News : After Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday granted a separate religious status to the Lingayat community, the Congress party rubbished the claims that the decision was a “political move”.

The clarification came after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the Opposition camp in the state, accused the Congress of striving to garner the votes of Lingayats, a dominant community in the state, ahead of the Assembly elections likely in April-May.

The suggestion, which has been accepted under section 2D of the state Minorities Commission Act, has been sent to the Centre for its final approval.

The Congress even dared BJP President Amit Shah and the party’s Karnataka chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyuruppa to clarify their position on Lingayats. “It is inappropriate to link the decision of the Karnataka government vis-a-vis declaration of Lingayat Samaj as a minority community to the political processes,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Hours after the Karnataka government accepted the suggestions of the Nagamohan Das committee yesterday to form a separate religion status for the Lingayat community, clashes broke out between the followers of Lingayat and Veerashaiva communities in Kalaburagi – when the former were celebrating the decision and the latter protesting the same.

Who are Lingayats ?

The Lingayats, who belong to the Other Backward Classes in Karnataka, are the worshippers of Lord Shiva and have distanced themselves from traditional Hinduism, especially from the Vedic version of it and the caste system. Ironically, in spite of its origin among the followers of the 12th-century social reformer Basavanna, the Lingayat community is now recognised as a caste.

Living mostly in North Karnataka, the Lingayats are believed to constitute 17 per cent of the population. Since their vote is widely acknowledged to be decisive in 110 of the 224 Assembly constituencies, Lingayats are considered politically powerful.

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