Appealing to farmers, opposition parties and the media against “misinterpreting” his words, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday said that he “would not remain in power even for a second” if he had spoken disrespectfully to any woman.
His response to a woman farmer, protesting at Belagavi on Sunday, was dubbed disrespectful and derogatory and had stirred a controversy and farmers organisations had been demanding an apology from him.
The Chief Minister, who was addressing the press after the farmers arrived in Bengaluru and the issue escalated, said that he would withdraw his words if the woman was pained by what he had said.
He was quick to add that he had addressed her as “taayi” (mother) and demanded to know how his words could be misread.
Accusing the Opposition and a section of media of inciting farmers, he said that he had not referred to farmers as “goondas” as represented but had used the word only to refer to those who had broken the gate of Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi on Sunday.
‘Arrears are only ₹58 crore’
Claiming that arrears for cane growers from the sugar companies had come down to ₹58 crore, Mr. Kumaraswamy asserted that Karnataka stands first in terms of repaying arrears to cane growers in the country.
The previous Congress government auctioned sugar stored in factories to repay arrears to cane growers, he added. He also challenged protesters to come for talks with facts and figures to prove that their arrears had not been cleared.
“A total of ₹58 crore is due towards cane growers. This includes ₹23 crore from the previous year,” he noted. “Are you then conspiring against me for just ₹35 crore, even after waiving huge farm loan?” he asked. Seeking an answer from the protesters for their action, the Chief Minister sought to know if he had “committed a crime” by waiving farm loans to the tune of ₹45,000 crore.
‘Modi misguiding farmers’
Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “misguiding” the public over the loan waiver in Karnataka, Mr. Kumaraswamy said that the process of loan waiver has already commenced. “Notices are being served by nationalised banks, which come under the purview of the Union government,” he said.
Referring to criticism by Opposition against his stay in a five-star hotel in Bengaluru,
Mr. Kumaraswamy said that the Central tax authorities were checking every payment made to the hotel, which he was not claiming from the government.
