Karnataka Cong chief Deputy CM, volte-face on loan waiver

Ramakrishna Upadhya

On the eve of his swearing-in, being showcased as a harbinger of Opposition unity, Karnataka Chief Minister-designate HD Kumaraswamy did a U-turn on Tuesday on his pre-poll promise of waiving all farm loans “within 24 hours of taking oath.”

During his hectic temple run at Sringeri and Dharmasthala, Kumaraswamy said his promise was conditional to JD(S) getting “full majority”, and since it had not done so, he would now discuss it with coalition partner Congress.

The state farmers have outstanding loans of Rs 42,000 crore in the scheduled banks, Rs 8,000 crore in rural banks and another Rs 3,000 crore in the cooperative banks, totalling Rs 53,000 crore. It is one-third of the state budget.

On returning to Bengaluru, Kumaraswamy held discussions with Congress leaders and it was decided that only Kumaraswamy and state Congress chief G Parameshwara will take oath as CM and Deputy CM, respectively.

JD(S) conceded the Speaker’s post to Congress after hard bargaining, but the name will be finalised on the eve of the confidence motion on Thursday.

Former Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar and senior member RV Deshpande are in the race for Speaker’s post, which will have a crucial role in a coalition arrangement.

Kumaraswamy said the coordination committee, consisting of five or six members, will also finalise the names of those MLAs from both sides for induction as ministers. Congress has not given up its demand for a second Deputy CM post and major portfolios such as finance, revenue and home on the “Maharashtra model”. JD(S), however, has rejected that model as unviable.

Congress is pressing for appointment of former CM Siddaramaiah as chairman of the coordination committee, but Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy are firmly against it. Congress’ representative from the high command, KC Venugopal, has opened another can of worms by insisting that ‘unconditional support’ to Kumaraswamy did not mean that he would be accepted as CM for five years.

He said during his meeting with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Monday, Kumaraswamy had suggested that he was looking for a “long-term relationship” with the Congress and Rahul was open to the idea.