Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje attacks Kerala government over recent suicide of farmer

The Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare was talking to reporters at Sabarimala after offering worship at the Lord Ayyappa temple here when it was opened for the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku festival.

Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje on Friday hit out at the Left government in Kerala over the recent suicide of a paddy farmer in the Kuttanad region and accused it of failing to utilise the funds of the Central government for farmer welfare.

She alleged that the Pinarayi Vijayan government was not serious about farmers’ issues and accused it of indulging in corruption.

The Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare was talking to reporters at Sabarimala after offering worship at the Lord Ayyappa temple here when it was opened for the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku festival.

“They (State government) are not doing anything. They are not taking the help of the Central government. They are not using the funds of the Central government. They are diverting the funds. That’s why many of the farmers are in trouble,” Ms. Karandlaje alleged.

Charging that many of the cooperative societies in the State are in trouble, the Union Minister also accused the State government of indulging in corruption even in such institutions. Many of the farmers who invested in cooperative societies and banks were committing suicide because they were not getting their money back, she alleged.

The Minister urged the State government to help farmers get their invested money back.

“I visited many cooperative societies. They are telling me that the government diverts the cooperative societies’ money for other reasons,” she claimed. That’s why the farmers who had invested and kept their money in cooperative societies and banks were not getting their amounts back, Karandlaje added.