Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah to meet PM Modi today, to discuss farmers' issue

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday.

According to the CM's travel plan shared with the media, he is expected to land in Delhi at 1:30 pm. The meeting is likely to take place at 5 pm, according to official sources. Siddaramaiah is scheduled to depart for Bengaluru at 7 pm. During the meeting with the Prime Minister, the CM is likely to discuss the sugarcane farmers' issue and pending approvals for Mahadayi and Mekedatu water projects, official sources said.

Siddaramaiah, on November 6, had written to the PM, seeking an appointment to discuss the sugarcane farmers' issue, amid their protest demanding a higher price of Rs 3,500 per tonne for their produce.  In the letter, he had claimed that the root of the problem lies in central policy levers: the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) formula, the stagnating Minimum Support Price (MSP) for sugar, export curbs, and the under-utilised ethanol off take from sugar-based feedstock.

Though it is not officially mentioned in the schedule, according to sources, Siddaramaiah may meet the Congress high command, including AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, amid speculations about CM change and cabinet reshuffle in Karnataka.  There have been talks about the chief minister change in the state when the Congress government reaches the halfway mark of its five-year term in November, which is being referred to by some as the "November revolution". This, even as Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also in New Delhi, has met Kharge.  There have been talks in the state's political circles, especially within the ruling Congress, for some time now about the chief minister change, citing "power-sharing" agreement involving CM Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress President.