Date:24/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/24/stories/2007032407380400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Dharna: House adjourned

Staff Reporter

Opposition members want loan waiver scheme modified

Congress backs demand of five other Opposition members

Government urged to extend deadline for loan repayment

Bangalore: The Legislative Assembly was adjourned till Monday without transacting any business on Friday when Congress members supported the demand of five other Opposition members that farmers who had taken loans up to Rs. 1 lakh from cooperatives be made eligible for the loan waiver scheme.

On Thursday, Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa made a statement in the House bringing more farmers under the loan waiver scheme. He said farmers who had taken loans up to Rs. 50,000 (it was restricted to Rs. 25,000 in the Budget) would be eligible for teh waiver of Rs. 25,000 and would not have to pay interest on the remainder provided it was repaid by March 31. The Opposition wanted the Government to extend the deadline for repaying the principal above Rs. 25,000 to June 1.

The House was adjourned in the morning because of the continuation of the dharna by Janata Dal (U) floor leader J.C. Madhuswamy, Vatal Nagaraj (Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha), G.V. Srirama Reddy (CPI-M), S. Rajendran (RPI) and Jayaprakash Hegde (independent) urging Mr. Yediyurappa, who holds the Finance portfolio, to implement their demand.

When the House reassembled, Mr. Kharge, who failed to get a positive reply from Mr. Yediyurappa, said his party would also be forced to join the dharna.

Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs M.P. Prakash said the rules did not bar the Speaker from conducting the proceedings when some members were staging a dharna in the well of the House and requested the protesters not to hold the House to ransom.

Mr. Yediyurappa said he would consider the demand and announce his decision while replying to the debate on the Budget.

Then Mr. Yediyurappa tabled the supplementary estimates (second and final instalment) for 2006-07 triggering a protest by the Congress. Mr. Dharam Singh questioning the propriety of tabling the supplementary estimates when the House had not even started the debate on the Budget itself. Following another suggestion by the Congress leaders, the Speaker adjourned the House to hold a discussion in his chambers to end the stalemate. But the effort proved futile.