The State government is not cooperating with the Union government in its efforts to set up a fertilizer unit in the State, H.N. Ananth Kumar, Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilizers, said in Bidar on Wednesday.
The UPA government did not start a single fertilizer unit in its 10-year rule, the BJP leader told presspersons here. “But the NDA government has taken steps to set up units in Dalcher, Ramagundam, Sindhri, Daroni and Gorakhpur,” he added. The Union Minister was in the city to campaign for Prakash Khandre, the BJP nominee for the Bidar Assembly bypoll.
The Union government is keen on starting a chemical fertilizer factory in the state. “We have informed the State government that we want to start it in north Karnataka, Bengaluru or any other place. But the government is yet to give us assurances of land grant and other clearances,” he said. Mr. Ananth Kumar said that the State government just blames the Union government and does not cooperate with the Centre in developing the State.
“We have completely stopped diversion of urea by neem coating and other methods. We have also taken steps to ensure that there is no scarcity of urea or other chemical fertilizers,” he claimed.
Mr. Ananth Kumar said the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken up several development works and Mr. Modi was being hailed as a world leader by several international experts.
“Mr. Modi has given me an important portfolio of supplying fertiliser to 65 per cent of the country’s farmers. Some Congress leaders are trying to comment on my work without understanding its importance,” he said. Earlier, Mr. Ananth Kumar held a road show along with other leaders in the city. MP Bhagwant Khuba, MLCs Raghunathrao Malkapure, B. G Patil and Amarnath Patil, district BJP president Shivaraj Gandage, and others were present.
‘State govt. anti-farmer’
The Congress government is anti-farmer, Mr. Ananth Kumar said. Addressing a rally on the APMC yard premises, the BJP leader said that the State government had no concrete plan for the welfare and development of farmers.
“Forget coming up with new schemes for farmers, the Congress government has not even been able to distribute crop loss relief to farmers already been released by the Union government,” he said.
The Union government had released Rs. 1,540 crore to take up drought-relief works in the State, he said and added that the money is yet to be deposited into the bank accounts of eligible farmers.
He compared the state government to a tortoise for its pace of development.
“The only thing Mr Siddharamaiah is good at is falling asleep during important meetings and government functions,” Mr. Ananth Kumar said.
‘Polls a referendum’
Mr. Ananth Kumar said that the ensuing zilla and taluk panchayat elections would be a referendum on the performance of the Congress government in the state.
Speaking to The Hindu in Kalaburagi, he said that voters, especially farmers, would reject the Congress in the forthcoming local body polls. He came down heavily on the State government over its handling of the drought situation and the distribution of compensation to farmers.
Calling the statement of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah that the Union government had only released 60 per cent of the drought relief funds as ‘irresponsible,’ Mr. Ananth Kumar said that the State government cannot absolve itself of the responsibility of helping the farmers in distress.
The State, which claims of having a budget of Rs 1.35 lakh crore, should not have any problem in releasing Rs. 600 crore from its coffers to provide relief to farmers, Mr. Ananth Kumar said.
“This is nothing short of callous and negligent attitude of the State government towards the farmers of the state who are in great distress,” he added.
It was pathetic to see that the Deputy Commissioners, who had the onerous responsibility of ensuing the crop compensation released by the Centre reached the farmers, were washing their hands of by stating that the funds released by the State government as crop compensation had been released to the tahsildars and it was their responsibility to pay it to the farmers.
To a question, Mr. Annath Kumar gave broad indications of change in guard in the BJP state unit and said, “Change in the leadership (at the state) is natural…..every three years the elections are held to the select office bearers and a new team takes over…..unlike other political parties, we democratically elect our office bearers”.
He said after the local body elections, the core group of the party, consisting of himself, MPs B.S. Yeddyurappa and Pralhad Joshi and former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, would meet and chart the future course of action. “All the decisions, including the leadership issue, would be taken up in a united manner …. we want to strengthen the party,” he said.
The upcoming local body polls are a referendum on the performance of the State government.
H.N. Ananth Kumar
Union Minister
