HDK calls meeting of farmers tomorrow over loan waiver

Under mounting pressure for honouring his pre-poll promise of waiving farm loans of Rs 53,000 crore, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has called a meeting of farmers' organisations tomorrow to discuss the issue, officials said today.

Kumaraswamy will hold a meeting with representatives of farmers' groups and agriculturists to discuss loan waiver, farmer suicides, and other problems faced by them, officials at the Chief Minister's Office said.

Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara will also attend the meeting, they said, adding Leader of Opposition in the Assembly B S Yeddyurappa has also been invited.

Kumaraswamy today chaired a meeting of senior officers on the issue that was attended by Chief Secretary K RatnaPrabha, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) ISN Prasad, Development Commissioner D V Prasad, and Additional ChiefSecretary to the Chief Minister M Lakshminarayana.

The chief miniser had recently said he was committed to waiving farm loans or else would retire from politics, and asked people not to fall prey to the "BJP's conspiracy".

He had also said he was ready with the guidelines onloan waiver details of which will be disclosed tomorrow.

Seeking to turn the heat on Kumaraswamy, the BJP had appealed to farmers and the public to "voluntarily observe a bandh" across Karnataka yesterday to protest the "failure" of the chief minister to honour his farm loan waiver promise within 24 hours of coming to power, but it had evoked a tepid response.

Kumaraswamy, who had made the promise in the run up to the elections, later sought time, saying since he was heading acoalition government with the Congress he would have to consultthe alliance partner before taking a decision.

He had also said he would have to take into account the financial condition of the state before taking the decision.

Putting the new government on notice, Yeddyurappa has threatened to take the next course of action if Kumaraswamy failed to deliver on his promise within a week.

According to experts and senior governmentofficials, the promise, if met, will have a huge impact on the state's financial health.

Kumaraswamy has called the meeting with peasant groups at a time when there is still no clarity over the cabinet expansion,amid reports of lack of consensus in the ruling coalition over allocation of key portfolios, especially Finance.

The JD(S) is reportedly insisting on keeping the Finance portfolio, which the Congress also wants.