Chalavadi Narayanaswamy claimed that the total extent of agricultural land affected by heavy rains was 38.71 lakh hectares, while the government’s figure was only 14.58 lakh hectares.
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Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress engaged in a heated debate in the Legislative Council on Tuesday over relief to farmers who suffered losses due to heavy rains.
While the members in the Opposition benches accused the State government of ignoring the plight of farmers, the members in the treasury benches maintained that the BJP was politicising the issue instead of responding to the farmers’ issues.
Leader of the Opposition Chalavadi Narayanaswamy stated that the State government’s assessment of crop loss caused by heavy rains was incorrect. The BJP, he claimed, had collected information from the farmers, and the total extent of agricultural land affected by heavy rains was 38.71 lakh hectares, while the government’s figure was only 14.58 lakh hectares.
Former Minister C.T. Ravi claimed that while there had been 85,000 incidents of crop loss due to wildlife, the government released relief only in 35,000 cases. He also took objection to stopping the State’s contributions under the Prime Minister’s Fasal Bima Yojana. “When the BJP was in power, the State contributed ₹4,000, besides ₹6,000 from the Centre. The government should have continued the contribution for the benefit of the farmers,” he opined.
Further, he said that Karnataka stood second in the country in terms of farmers’ suicides. In the last two years 2,422 farmers committed suicide and the government had released compensation for 941 families.
He pointed out that the youths of the agricultural families were not getting brides for marriages. “A mutt recently invited applications for a matrimonial meet, and it received 60,000 applications from farmers’ families. The situation is grim, and it shows the plight of agricultural families,” he added.
During the debate, Leader of the House N.S. Boseraju, Agriculture Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy, Sugar Minister Shivanand Patil, Labour Minister Santosh Lad and other members of the Congress intervened to allege that the BJP leaders were politicising the issue. They had no moral right to question the State government’s commitment to farmers’ welfare, as they had never raised their voice against the injustices of the Centre, they argued.
The Ministers and members of the Congress party took strong objection when Mr. Ravi commented that the Congress government in the State had opened “MLAs’ procurement centre”, instead of maize procurement centres’, referring to the leadership row in the ruling party.
The State government is expected to give its reply to the debate on Wednesday.
Published – December 09, 2025 09:37 pm IST
