From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Apr 3: Congress Opposition Leader in the Assembly Siddaramaiah and KPCC Chief D K Shivakumar accused the BJP government at the Centre and in the State of sucking the blood of farmers and people instead of the promised Acche Din.
Addressing a joint news conference at the Congress Bhavan of KPCC on Sunday, April 3, the two Congress leaders said Ugadi, the Hindu community’s new year, has turned sour for the common man by the ruling BJP at the Centre and in the State.
The DAP fertilizer rates have been increased drastically since April 1. A bag of 50 kg fertiliser has been increased by Rs 150. Now the price is Rs 1350 per bag. Thus, the increase in DAP per kg is Rs 3.
Indian Farmers use about 1.2 crore tonnes of DAP in a year. If increase is Rs 3 per kg, the government is extracting more than Rs 3600 crore from farmers, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar said and wondered what happened to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of doubling farmers income by 2022.
“Instead of doubling farmer’s income, BJP is exploiting the farmers and sucking their blood,’’ the former chief minister charged.
GST of plant medicines is 18%, GST of farm machineries is 12%. GST on fertilizers is 5%, he said.
As much as 15 lakh metric tonnes of Ragi was grown in Karnataka this season in anticipation of higher prices. Farmers are demanding to procure at least half of it. But the State government has notified to procure at just 2.1 lakh metric tonnes under MSP.
“Till now only 1.9 lakh metric tonnes is procured. The difference between MSP and market price for Ragi is about Rs 1500. MSP is Rs 3377 and market price is about Rs 1700 to Rs 1800. Same is the situation with Jowar, Togari, Paddy and other crops,” he said.
The Congress leaders mentioned that the BJP government claims of oil companies being autonomous bodies and they increase price based on international crude oil price. But Modi government is manipulating oil companies.
Oil companies had last raised fuel rates in November 2021 and it was not increased till end of March 2022. This was mainly controlled with an eye on elections.
"How can we then say government does not have control over oil companies in deciding prices? Prices of Petrol and Diesel have been increased by Rs 7.2 per litre in last 12 days. Domestic LPG price is increased by Rs 50 and commercial LPG by Rs 250. Why did the oil companies not increase between November and March even when international prices increased? Why can’t they stop the increase even now?" the Congress leaders asked.
The KPCC Chief and former Chief Minister pointed out that theModi government had increased excise duty of Diesel from Rs. 3.45 to Rs. 31.84 and now it is Rs 21.84 and excise duty of Petrol was increased from Rs. 9.21 to Rs. 32.98 and now it is 27.91.
The Central government has so far collected about Rs 26 lakh crore from additional excise duty imposed on Petrol and Diesel. Total tax on Diesel from both Central and State taxes is Rs 32 and on Petrol is Rs 47.9 on every litre.
"During Manmohan Singh-led UPA rule, when the crude oil price was $108 per barrel, the price of Diesel was Rs 55 and Petrol Rs 71 per litre. Even now under Modi regime, the price of crude oil is $108, but price of Diesel is Rs 97 and Petrol is Rs 108. There is huge increase in prices under Modi rule," they charged.
Corporate tax was reduced from 35% to 22%, but excise duty on Petrol is increased by 203% and on Diesel by 531%, they said and ridiculed the claims and empty slogans of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas."
Domestic LPG price was about Rs 414. Manmohan Singh was giving 50% subsidy to reduce the burden on common man. Modi discontinued the subsidy on LPG. Now the price of LPG has touched Rs 1000.
Day loot of common man
Prices of essential medicines have been increased by 10%. Prices of cement, steel, cooking oil and other commodities have been increased drastically. This has resulted in huge inflation affecting the day-to-day lives of common man. This is the contribution of Modi, they charged.
"BJP is misleading people to divert the attention from the issues of fuel price hike, inflation, unemployment, plight of farmers. BJP’s main weapon to divert attention is raking up communally sensitive issues and instilling venomous thoughts in people," Siddaramaiah said.
About 11 crore jobs were available from MSMEs before demonetisation. Now, it is just 2.5 crore jobs, they said and wondered what happened to promise of 2 crore jobs creation per year under Modi rule.
Investments, job creation and growth are directly dependent on law and order. Continuous decline in law and order in our State has cost lakhs of crores of investments, said Siddaramaiah.
The issue of bond purchases by oil companies are totally irrelevant and half cooked numbers to mislead people. UPA had issued bonds worth about Rs 2.2 lakh crore but revenue collected from additional excise duty imposed is about Rs 26 lakh crore, he mentioned.
Covid pandemic reasons for increasing taxes are baseless. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has claimed to have spent Rs 15,000 crore for Covid in last two years. Compared to our budget size, Rs 15,000 crore is negligible. Kerala has spent about Rs 40,000 crore in last 2 years for Covid. The budget size of Kerala is much lesser than ours. BJP has failed to increase the capital investments also. No houses have been built and infrastructure is still below par.
Record enrolment of 63 lakh members
The KPCC chief said the membership enrolment drive launched by the party as part of the preparations for organizational elections has already hit a record figure of 63 lakh. The drive will be continued till April 14, he said pointing out that the party is keen to have real, dedicated and committed members.