Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Jul 11: All India Congress Committee vice president, Rahul Gandhi, will be visiting Karnataka during the next week to extend assistance to families of farmers who committed suicide recently. These farmers, many of them frustrated at mounting debt and falling demand for sugarcane, had decided to end lives, feeling intimidated by mounting debt.
Rahul had earlier visited NDA-ruled states like Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Punjab and Haryana, to meet farmers and empathize with them about the loss of crops. Several non-Congress parties including BJP and JDS had wondered why has he confined himself to opposition-ruled states, while staying away from Congress-ruled Karnataka, which has been witnessing a spate of farmer suicides. Perhaps this visit is scheduled in response to these criticisms.
Rajya Sabha member, B K Hariprasad, will be visiting Mandya district on Saturday July 11, to meet families farmers who chose to end their lives, and submit a report thereof to the party high command. On the basis of this report, date for Rahul's visit will be finalized, it is learnt. Congress sources said that the leader will personally visit some of the families of farmers who committed suicides during the past three months, pledge solidarity with the families, and disburse compensation.
The state government has already announced compensation to families of farmers who committed suicide since the last three months. Because of mounting debt and falling prices of produce, 48 farmers have committed suicide in the state. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) had earlier decided to pay compensation to distressed farmer families on behalf of the party. When this decision was made known to Rahul Gandhi, he expressed the desire to personally visit the state and disburse compensation. Sources claim that Rahul also expressed unhappiness at the way the issue was handled, as he feels that the government and KPCC could have worked more diligently in the matter.