BJP leader asks Karnataka to learn from Tamil Nadu to protect farmers’ interests

The special session of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly is being held in Bengaluru on 23 September 2026. | Photo credit: special arrangement

Deputy Leader of the Opposition Arvind Bellad on Wednesday accused the Karnataka government and Chief Minister DK Shivakumar of failing to protect the state’s interests with regard to the Cauvery, noting that the state should learn from Tamil Nadu to protect its water share as well as its farmers during emergencies.

Participating in an Assembly debate on the drought, Mr. Bellad argued that the fact that Karnataka was repeatedly asked by the Cauvery authorities to release water to Tamil Nadu was a clear sign of the Karnataka government’s “failure” to present its case forcefully.

Though Tamil Nadu has exceeded the geographical area for growing the crop allotted to it in its Cauvery command area, Karnataka has not highlighted this before the Cauvery monitoring authorities or the Supreme Court, he said.

“Despite his lack of political experience, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay has been able to protect the interests of his farmers unlike his Karnataka counterpart. From the beginning, the Karnataka Chief Minister maintained that our farmers should not grow crops in the command region due to poor storage in the Cauvery reservoirs. On the contrary, Mr. Vijay told his farmers to release water, to pay them for water, that he would also get them water. compensation of ₹ 134 million farmers for the delay in releasing water,” he said.

Mr. Vijay also provides 18 hours of three-phase power to his farmers to help run the IP sets unlike Karnataka where farmers do not get even one hour of uninterrupted three-phase power, he claimed.

Attacking Mr Shivakumar, who had undertaken a padayatra soon after COVID-19 to create awareness about the need to implement the Mekedatu buffer tank project, Mr Bellad said no concrete progress had been made on the project even though Mr Shivakumar had now become the Chief Minister.

He accused the state government of not taking any preventive measures to deal with the drought despite being warned about it by the IMD four months ago. “The chief minister did not even appoint an agriculture minister in the first phase of formation of the ministry,” he said.

“The Chief Minister has shown interest in starting the tunnel road project at a cost of ₹ 28,000 crore. But he has not shown similar interest in protecting farmers’ interests by taking drought relief measures. He has time for Gautam Adani but not farmers,” he said.

Pointing out that 70% of the state’s population is still dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, Mr. Bellad expressed concern that the drought is bound to affect the rural economy, which in turn will affect the state’s economy.

He said the allocation of ₹25 crore for purchase of fodder would translate into a paltry ₹28.73 paise per farmer, while the drought relief of ₹117 crore for the state would amount to just ₹134 paise per farmer.

Published – 23 Sep 2026 23:15 IST