Karnataka government 'anti-farmer', didn't waive farm loans: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday termed Karnataka's coalition government as "anti-farmer" and said the Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) made "false" promises of farm loan waiver to seek votes in the Assembly election.

"For the sake of votes, the parties promised farm loan waiver for farmers in the state. But after coming to power, they forgot their promises," Modi told a public rally here.

Modi also accused the coalition government of being "corrupt". "The anti-farmer government in Karnataka has not allowed the benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM Kisan) scheme to reach the farmers."

The PM Kisan scheme announced in this year's Union Budget provides direct annual income support of Rs 6,000 per year in three instalments to 12 crore small and marginal farmers in the country.

Accusing Chief Minister H.D. Kumarswamy of being "remote-controlled" by the Congress, the Prime Minister said the state had failed to send the Centre the list of farmers eligible for the scheme.

The Karnataka government maintains that of the Rs 48,000 crore farm loans it announced to waive in June last year, loans worth Rs 1,611-crore taken by 3.28 lakh farmers had been waived till January 31.