Sarvodaya Karnataka Party will be relaunched in a State-level meeting of farmer and other associations in Bidar in October, K.S. Puttannaiah, MLA and farmers’ leader, said in Bidar on Sunday.
Mr. Puttannayya is the lone MLA from the party that was formed with an understanding between Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Dalit Sangharsha Samiti.
Writer Devanooru Mahadeva is the State unit president of SKP. “Some structural changes will be made to the party to help increase its social and regional base,” he said.
The conference will also collect ideas to protect farmers from the vagaries of climate, he said.
He urged Chief Minister Siddharamaiah to levy a special tax to mop up Rs. 20,000 crore to fund drought relief and help farmers in distress.
He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare drinking water as a national asset and form a national policy on drinking water. He criticised the PM for developing ‘Smart Cities’ by neglecting villages.
He condemned Cooperation Minister H.S. Mahadev Prasad’s reported statement that laziness was pushing farmers to suicide. Mr. Puttannaiah alleged that Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli, MLA and chairman of the district central cooperative bank was collecting Rs 1.15 lakh as share capital for a cooperative hospital, from all loanee farmers.
There is no rule that share capital should be directly deducted from the loan accounts of farmers. I will complain against this to the cooperation minister, the farmers’ leader said.
Mr. Puttannaiah said he would try and broker peace between the two factions of the KRRS in Bidar district.
‘Some structural changes will be made to the party to help increase its base’
‘Prime Minister must form a national policy on drinking water’
