Farmer suicide: BJP members stage walkout on sugarcane price issue

, Nov 29: BJP members in the Karnataka Legislative Council on Friday staged a walk out, saying they were not satisfied with Chief Minister

's reply on the sugarcane price issue, that had led to the suicide of a farmer during a protest here on Wednesday.

Siddaramaiah did not yield to the pressure from the opposition and maintained that there will not be any increase further to the price announced for sugarcane.

The sugarcane growers will get Rs.2,650 per tonne of which government will pay Rs.150 to the farmers. Opposition BJP leader D.V.Sadanandagouda said farmers should be paid an additional Rs.350 thereby taking the total to Rs.3,000.

The Chief Minister asked the BJP members as to what prevented their previous government to pay more when the sugar price was ruling high.

Irked by CM's 'hypocrite' statement, BJP staged a walkout

Slamming the BJP as "anti-farmers", he termed them as hypocrites. Irked by the statement, the BJP members staged walk out.

Meanwhile, Minister for Sugar Prakash Hukkeri assured the House that after the winter session of legislature in Belgaum, the Chief Minister will lead a delegation to the Prime Minister to take up various state issues.

He was replying to opposition, when they sought to know the reason, why a delegation had not been taken to the Prime Minister as has been done by Maharashtra.

The opposition also objected to the magisterial inquiry into the death of farmer Vitthal Arabhavi on Wednesday and questioned the intention of the government in not agreeing to their suggestion for a judicial probe.

PTI