CM still can146;t plug farmers suicides

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy8217;s recent threat to quit if farmers don8217;t stop committing suicide is being put to the test.

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy8217;s recent threat to quit if farmers don8217;t stop committing suicide is being put to the test.

Two days ago a farmer attempted to commit suicide by consuming pesticide outside the residence of Kumaraswamy8217;s father, H D Deve Gowda, in Bangalore. The farmer, Somashekhar, 40, from a village in Hassan, the home district of the Gowda family, said the Chief Minister and his family had failed to help him overcome a debt of Rs 6 lakh incurred on a tractor loan.

The farmer from Hiresave village in Hassan said he took the Rs 6 lakh loan from a private finance company and was subsequently under pressure to repay the loan. With no money to till his land he sought a Rs 1 lakh loan on the tractor from another financier. The financier, according to Somashekhar, gave him an initial payment of Rs 60,000 but subsequently defaulted on the remainder and also refused to return his tractor.

With his tractor gone and with no money to transport his sugarcane to the market, the farmer said he was helpless and was forced to seek political help. He said he initially approached Kumaraswamy and later he went to CM8217;s brother and PWD minister H D Revanna for help.

When he could see no help from any quarters, he met Deve Gowda, who told him to approach the Hassan police for help.

After being shunted between the offices of the Hassan SP and the local police inspector, Somashekhar says he was told that the police could do nothing to help him, forcing him to rush to Deve Gowda once again on June

25 only to be rebuked and sent out this time. Police sources confirmed that the farmer had approached them for help.

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On June 26, Somashekhar returned to Deve Gowda8217;s house with a bottle of pesticide. When not allowed to meet the former Prime Minister he drank the poison outside Gowda8217;s house. Security staff on duty at the house rushed Somashekhar to a hospital.

On Wednesday, after the farmer was discharged Deve Gowda reacted angrily to the attempted suicide on the sidelines of an event to induct cricketer Dodda Ganesh into the fold of the Janata Dal Secular. 8220;If he wants to commit suicide, I cannot help it. Have I cheated him for him to commit suicide in front of my house? I helped him get back the tractor he had mortgaged with a financier,8221; Deve Gowda said.