Opposition plans to move a no-confidence motion against the Karnataka government on issues like farmer suicide and corruption among others
With 107 farmer suicide deaths reported in Karnataka this year, the state government has come under fire from the opposition. Most of the deaths have been reported from the fertile sugarcane belts of South Karnataka due to low prices of their crop.
Almost 68 farmers are reported to have died since April this year.
61 year old Ninge Gowda of Mandya district was one of them, who horrifyingly died in flames after setting fire to small piece of land where he had been growing sugarcane.
The Congress state government admits its confusion.
Agriculture minister, Krishna Byre Gowda said, "Why is it without a trend? Suddenly there is a significant severe deterioration, and that is something we are also grappling with. We have asked District Commissioners to provide us with a case by case report of local reasons."
The government claims that they have cracked down on moneylenders, booking as many as 587 cases against them in the past four days. They are also setting up counselling facilities at the taluka level.
The opposition has been very critical of the Government's response and raised the issue in the ongoing legislature session.
The BJP's Suresh Kumar told NDTV, "We had demanded that Govt should come out with some package... The second demand of the opposition was to come down heavily on private moneylenders."
Next Monday, the Janata Dal Secular (JDS) plans to move a no-confidence motion against the government on issues like farmer suicide and corruption among others.
JDS leader, Y.S.V. Datta told NDTV, "As a temporary measure, the first thing is to build up confidence in farmers - for that including the chief minister, all the ministers should tour their constituencies and districts and go to the farmers doorsteps.
The government claims to have distributed nearly Rs 9,900 crore of interest free credit to farmers over the last one year, but the opposition doesn't seem impressed.