Yaduveer slams State govt for “anti-farmers stance”; claims Centre driving agricultural revival

Coming down heavily on the State government, Mysuru MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar has said that the Congress was pursuing an ‘’anti-farmer’’ agenda and adopting a confrontationist approach towards the Union government.

Speaking to mediapersons here on Wednesday, Mr. Yaduveer said though Prime Minister Narendra Modi had floated many schemes to revive agriculture and shore up the fortunes of the farmers, the State government was not extending cooperation. He said agriculture, being a State subject, any policies and programmes related to it had to be implemented by the State government.

‘’Unfortunately in Karnataka, the Congress is non-cooperative, and instead of resolving administrative or technical issues through talks, it is pursuing a confrontationist approach and is content blaming the Centre’’, he added. As a result, welfare of farmers was being undermined, Mr. Yaduveer alleged.

He said the Viksit Bharat vision of Prime Minister Modi was rooted in strengthening agriculture and reviving the fortunes of farmers, and cited examples of how the budgetary support for the farm sector had increased over the years compared to the UPA era. As farmers constituted 60% of the country’s workforce, more should be done for them, and hence the BJP was not only supporting agriculture but also the allied sectors, he said.

Though there was a revolution in the making in the agriculture sector, Mr. Wadiyar alleged that Karnataka remained an outlier due to the State government’s approach.

The State government had failed to release its share of funds for the drip irrigation scheme which would benefit the farmers. Similarly, efforts were being made for value addition to agricultural produce, but the State government had remained indifferent and farmers were sufffering, Mr. Wadiyar alleged.

He said the government’s handling of increase in human-wildlife conflict was an example of how the farmers were being let down. Though more than 85,000 cases of conflicts were reported till 2025, relief and compensation was yet to be paid in more than 35,000 cases, he said.

The MP criticised the suspension of the Vidya Nidhi scheme launched by the previous BJP government in the State and said that children of farmers were receiving ₹4,000 as scholarship under the scheme, but the Congress scrapped it.

He claimed that while the Centre was designing pro-farmer programmes, the State government was “sinking due to political antagonism.” The BJP, he said, would continue to fight for the farmers.

BJP city unit president L. Nagendra said the party would launch a State-wide agitation on November 27 and 28 condemning the ‘’anti-farmers policies’’ of the State government. MLA T.S. Srivatsa and others were present.