Karnataka - Bidar

I will quit from post if suicides continue: Kumaraswamy

Staff Correspondent

Emulate industrialists who face challenges with courage, farmers told

H.D. Kumaraswamy

Bidar: I will not continue as the Chief Minster if farmers did not stop committing suicide, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy told a public meeting in Humnabad on Tuesday.

"I am not attached to power. I look upon the Chief Minister's position as an opportunity to serve farmers and the poor. I am also taking up many programmes for the welfare of farmers. But farmers continue to commit suicide despite my efforts. It only means my efforts have failed to help them. In such a situation, there is no meaning in my continuing as the Chief Minister. I do not want to stick to my position. I will resign if farmers continue to commit suicide," he said.

He repeatedly appealed to farmers not to commit suicide but to face the challenges of life with courage. "When a farmer ends his life, he makes his wife, children, parents and other family members orphans. Their life becomes more miserable than when he was alive and they will struggle to pay off debts. Farmers should realise this," he said.

"Farmers should take a cue from industrialists. The latter are large borrowers and many of them are defaulters. They do not commit suicide. They live with courage," he said.

Later, he told presspersons that government policies regarding loan repayment should change, as they were "anti-small defaulters". The Government should stop going after farmers and others who have borrowed small amounts of money. They should concentrate on getting their money back from industrialists and other large-scale defaulters, he said. Mr. Kumaraswamy also said he would complete touring Chamrajnagar and Madikeri before June 6.

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