BJP farmers’ wing promises talks with Karnataka sugarcane growers
BJP Raitha Morcha president Iranna Kadadi said the organisation would meet sugarcane farmers’ representatives in Karnataka, examine their demands and take their concerns to the Union Government. He said some demands were justified, while arguing that changing sugar’s minimum selling price would not resolve farmers’ problems.
The BJP Raitha Morcha will work with sugarcane farmers in Karnataka to address their concerns, its president and former Rajya Sabha member Iranna Kadadi said in Belagavi. Kadadi said the organisation would meet leaders of farmers who had recently protested in Hubballi, discuss their demands and carry their concerns to the Union Government. He said the Morcha did not view the protests as a political movement, adding that some of the farmers’ demands were justified.
He also said some leaders lacked clarity about the problems facing sugarcane growers. Kadadi cited a distinction between the recommended Minimum Selling Price for sugar and the Minimum Support Price. He said the former was intended to ensure that sugar factories did not sell below a specified price, while the Centre fixed support prices for 25 crops under a market intervention mechanism.
He argued that revising sugar’s minimum selling price would not address the farmers’ concerns. Kadadi said the Union Government had taken several steps for sugarcane growers’ welfare, although more measures were needed. He said the recommendations of the M.S.
Swaminathan Commission were being implemented gradually and that there could be no overnight change. Kadadi also criticised the Karnataka government, saying it had yet to do anything good for farmers, and said a dispute over unparliamentary language had ended after an apology.
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