Daijiworld Media Network –Bengaluru

Bengaluru, May 3: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for being apathetic towards farmers on twitter, the CM did not take the accusation lightly. He was quick to take a dig at the PM by listing out the facilities Karnataka government provided to farmers as well as point out the ‘insensitivities’ on the PM’s part.

The tweet war started with PM Modi tweeting “The Congress Government in Karnataka has completely ignored the state’s agriculture sector. They have been insensitive towards the aspirations of the farmers. The farmers of Karnataka deserve better.”

What followed this was Siddaramaih’s six part tweet listing 13 achievements by the Karnataka government.

“Really! This is rich coming from you Mr Prime Minister. I have spoken a lot about what we have done for the farmers. But I will repeat it in this thread. I will also talk about your insensitivity to farmers,” he lashed back.

Listing out the progress in points, he tweeted:

1. We are the only state that gives farm loans at zero % interest rate.
2. We have waived Rs 8165 Cr. farm loans taken from cooperative societies. 22.50 lakh farmers benefited.
3. We spend Rs 8000 Cr every year to give free assured power (7Hrs) to farmers.
4. We have launched Direct Income Support program for 70 lac dry land famers. They get Rs 5000 to 10000 in their Bank account for growing crops.
5. We have financed construction of two lac farm ponds.
6. We have allocated 50,000 Cr in 5 years and spent 45,000 crores on irrigation.
7. We have given bonus over MSP and procured lakhs of tons of Tur when prices fell.
8. We have contributed 50% to the Fasal Beema Yojana & are the only state to have an IT system for direct cash transfer of insurance payment.
9. We pioneered eMandi system and it is a model for GoI.
10. We do free (cashless) surgeries for farmers who are cooperative members.
11. We have set up Agri Machinery Hiring centres throughout the state.
12. We have built an excellent network of roads in the state.
13. We have added 5000 MW of power capacity in 5 years.

The CM then pointed out three insensitive decisions by the Prime Minister towards farmers.

1. I asked for farm loan waiver. PM refused
2. I asked for intervention to solve Mahadayi issue. PM refused.
3. I asked for increase in Disaster Relief Fund as Karnataka gets 1750 crore and Maharashtra gets 8000 crore. No reply from PM.

With less than two weeks for the election, BJP and Congress are having a war of words on twitter. Both are seen promoting their achievements and criticizing the other for failures.