From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, May 4: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Dr G Parameshwara dismissed State BJP’s election manifesto promise on waiver of agricultural loans of farmers from nationalised and commercial banks up to Rs 1 lakh as nothing but a "jumla" like the several promises of the Narendra Modi regime.

Reacting to Karnataka BJP’s poll manifesto in Bengaluru on Friday, he said the BJP while in power between 2008 and 2013 had refused to concede the demand for waiver of farm loans and the then BJP Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had tersely said that he does not have note printing machines to grant the benefit to farmers hit by continuous drought conditions.

"We know the track record of BJP government in the Centre and can list 10 major poll promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections that have not been fulfilled even after four years in power. This promise in the manifesto will be another jumla," he said while addressing a news conference at the KPCC office.

Dr Parameshwara reminded the Prime Minister his refusal to concede the demand of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, when he led an all-party delegation, seeking waiver of Rs 45,000 crore agricultural loans of farmers from nationalised and commercial banks and said the State Government announced waiver of cooperative farm loans to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore to benefit 22.5 lakh families out of its meagre resources.

He said: "If the BJP is really keen on improving the lot of farmers, it should walk the talk (Nudidante Nade) as Basavanna said."

He said the BJP government at the Centre had made an attractive promise of doubling the income of farmers without doing anything in the last 4 years and there is no guarantee that anything will be done this year. The distress in the farm sector and the suicides of over 12,000 farmers is a stark reality.

"With such a dismal track record in the State or at the Centre, what is the guarantee that BJP will implement this latest poll promises if it really comes to power," Dr Parameshwara said and asserted that he was completely confident of the ruling Congress party’s return to power to implement its poll promises as it did in 2013.

The KPCC Chief ruled out the prospects of a hung assembly verdict and declared that the Congress party will form the government on its own. "I am saying this on the strength of leading the State party unit for eighth consecutive year and touring all the 224 assembly constituencies in the State," he said.

Attacking the Prime Minister for his "false and baseless" allegations that Bengaluru has become a "Sin City," the KPCC Chief termed it as an "insult" to the people of Bengaluru and Karnataka, especially when the World Economic Forum has hailed Bengaluru as "the most dynamic and most happening city in the world" and the city has been adjudged as one among the top cities in the world in job creation.

"Bengaluru and Karnataka contributes the maximum Income Tax and the IT sector is the highest revenue earner for the country. What is the sin that Bengaluru has committed to be insulted by no less a person than the Prime Minister as a sin city," he said in a sharp comment on Modi’s speech at an election rally in Kengeri on Thursday. He reminded the Prime Minister that Bengaluru was described by the New York Times as "the garbage city" when Yeddyurappa and BJP were in power in the State.

Dr Parameshwara asked the Prime Minister not to shed crocodile tears over the plight of Dalits and pointed out RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat and top leader M G Vaidya had publicly opposed the reservation for SC/STs. He accused the BJP government for diluting the Prevention of SC/ST Atrocities Act and demanded the NDA government to clarify its stand on the issue.

He ridiculed Modi’s attempt to corner the Congress party for denying the Chief Ministership to senior Congress leader Mallikarjuna Kharge. "He (Kharge) is a senior-most leader and certainly a very capable person," the KPCC Chief said and pointed out that the Congress elected him as the party leader in the Lok Sabha, who was not accorded the status of the recognised leader of the opposition because of the Modi government.

The KPCC Chief challenged the Prime Minister to declare Dalit leader Govind Karjol or any other person as the next Chief Minister if he was that concerned about the Dalits as the party boasts of its victory.