Mandya, 4 July

Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, R Ashoka demanded that the Congress government immediately released Rs 50,000 per acre as compensation to farmers, after Chief Minister DK Shivakumar urged ryots to rethink before sowing amid the El Nino induced rainfall deficit.

A BJP delegation, comprising of Ashoka, LoP in the Council Chhalavadi Narayanaswamy, MLA Srivatsa, local BJP leaders visited the KRS dam in Srirangapatna and said that it only had about 6 thousand million cubic feet (TMC ft) of water.

“We need 3 TMC ft every month for drinking water. That means it will last only two months,” Ashoka told press. “Currently, the inflow into the KRS Dam is 900 cusecs, but the outflow is more than the inflow. We don't know if there is a plan to secretly release water to Tamil Nadu.”

Alleging that all the dams in the State were running dry, Ashoka said: “The government should have called a meeting of farmers and an all-party meeting. But this government is interested only in floating tenders for garbage and tunnel roads… It is still asleep.”

He also asked why the Cabinet was not complete yet, one month after the power transition, and called it a “payment cabinet”.

“There is no Agriculture Minister?” Ashoka charged. “There is no doubt that they have to pay money in Delhi to get Cabinet berths.”