K'taka: JD-S to press for cheap farm loans

Bangalore, Jan 27: The national executive and national council meeting of the Janata Dal (Secular), which starts here tomorrow, will demand that the Centre and Karnataka government waive off all farm loans.

The executive will finalise resolutions on politics, economics and foreign relations and the national council will urge the governments to provide fresh loans at 3.5 per cent to help farmers who were commiting suicide as they are unable to repay their loans in various parts of the country, including Maharashtra, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh.

''Growth in the farm sector has reached a plateau and unless we take pro active steps to increase irrigation, provide quality seeds, affordable credits and good returns to the farmers, the country will not be able to make real progress and uplift the lives of people dependent on agriculture,'' JD(S) secretary Kunwar Danish Ali told UNI.

The party was not asking for the moon and the people should understand the JD(S)-BJP coalition in Karnataka is providing loans at four per cent which is unarguably the softest loan rate in the country, he said. If only Centre and other states implement it, the lives of the farmers would be lot better, he added.

''The government has a moral responsibility to protect the farmers from the 'ill effects' of importing cheap agricultural products which leads to denial of fair returns to the domestic farmers,'' he said.

Asked about the transition of power to the BJP in the last term of the present assembly, Mr Ali said the party's executive and council will not deliberate an issue which was months away. ''The issue concerned one state and Karnataka unit has to take a decision,'' he added.

The party is committed to retain its secular credentials by maintaining equi-distance between the Congress and the BJP. ''We would like to have our own government but the JD(S) coalition with Congress earlier and with BJP now is a compulsion. We will contest in about 15 assembly constituencies in Manipur, Uttarakhand and Punjab.

The party will be contesting in Uttar Pradesh also,'' he added.

The party would pass a resolution citicising ''the inaction of the ruling UPA coalition and also the opposition NDA in not condemning the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussain by the US appointed Iraqi government,'' Mr Ali said.

Both the political coalitions had conveniently forgotten the unanimous resolution of Parliament deploring U S invasion in Iraq, he lamented.

The party will like to provide reservations for Muslims on 'the Karnataka pattern' which was implemented when JD(S) president H D Deve Gowda was the Chief Minister of the state.

''The reservation pattern is time tested and is implemented even today,'' he added.

UNI