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Evening Pulse: Cane blockade rolls into day two as Cabinet sets Thursday for the quota call
Growers held NH 48 through a second day with no price in sight, the Cabinet will take up the High Court quota ruling on Thursday, nine more taluks were declared drought-hit, and the sting row turned into a slanging match between ministers and the opposition.
Pan India Pulse deskBased on reports from The South First, Hosa Digantha, ETV Bharat Karnataka, Sanjevaniಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಓದಿ
Karnataka ends Wednesday with every big question deferred to someone else's desk. The cane price sits with the Centre, the quota ruling with Thursday's Cabinet, drought money with Delhi, and the sting allegations with an investigation that nobody has yet ordered. In the meantime, the highways stayed shut, nine more taluks joined the drought list, and the sting row moved from allegation to insult.
Since this morning, the sugarcane blockade has hardened rather than eased. Growers kept the Pune-Bengaluru highway closed for a second straight day at the Hirebagewadi, Hattargi and Kognoli toll points in Belagavi district, The South First and ETV Bharat reported, and Hosa Digantha described the stretch from Haveri to Hattargi as blocked. Kolhapur Range IG Ranjan Kumar Sharma asked motorists to stay off NH 48 and use routes through Miraj and Gokak, The South First reported. Rani Channamma University postponed Wednesday's B.Ed examination because students could not reach their centres, ETV Bharat said. Sanjevani reported that a young farmer tried to jump from a toll structure near Hukkeri and was rescued by police.
The farmers' terms have not moved. They want Rs 5,500 a tonne for cane, a higher floor price for sugar, Central purchase of the state's ethanol and the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations. Leader Chunappa Pujeri told Hosa Digantha that no sugar should leave the mills until a price is fixed, and spoke of blocking railway lines if needed; ETV Bharat quoted him warning that even the airport could be shut. Farmer leaders were due to meet at 6 pm to decide their next step, Hosa Digantha reported; we had not seen their decision by publication. The statewide bandh warning we flagged this morning stands, with no date. We found no report that the Centre has named the joint committee it promised, and no announcement of a state advised price.
On the High Court's quota ruling, the loop has a date. Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said the Cabinet meets on Thursday and will weigh two routes: an appeal to the Supreme Court, or asking the Centre to place the law in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, which shields listed laws from some court challenges, Public TV English and The Federal reported. A demand for an all-party delegation to Delhi will also go to the Cabinet. Candidates selected under the 56 per cent quota still do not know whether the ruling reaches back to their appointments.
Parameshwara also said nine more taluks would be declared drought-hit, taking the total to 226, according to both outlets. A delegation led by Chief Minister D K Shivakumar will take a memorandum to Delhi seeking relief under National Disaster Response Fund rules. The state has asked the Centre to relax those rules; Public TV English reported the Union Agriculture Minister replied only that the request would be examined.
The sting row turned personal. Water Resources Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy hit back at Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who has alleged that Shivakumar was behind the sting targeting Siddaramaiah. "Has Shivakumar gone mad to arrange a sting operation against a senior leader of his own party?" he asked, IANS reported, and dared Kumaraswamy to get the CBI to investigate. Vartha Bharati and The Federal reported that he questioned Kumaraswamy's mental state and accused him of sympathy for Prajwal Revanna. He said the Cabinet could discuss the matter on Thursday. We did not see a fresh response from Kumaraswamy by evening.
The BJP tried to widen the crack. In Shivamogga, state president B Y Vijayendra alleged that forces inside the Congress were trying to sideline Siddaramaiah and said a third Chief Minister under Congress rule would not be surprising, IANS and Just Kannada reported. He also claimed 20 to 25 legislators could join the BJP but said this was not a plan to topple the government. The Congress had not responded to his remarks in the reports we saw.
Other loops from this morning did not move. We found no fresh development in the BJP's Delhi 'push' video row, no public police update on Siddaramaiah's complaint, and nothing new on the report into Monday's police action against anti-SIR protesters.
Pulse view
Analysis by the Pulse deskThe common thread today is that the state's agenda is being set by people waiting on someone else. Cane growers are waiting on Delhi for a price, Bengaluru is waiting on Delhi for drought money, and the quota decision now waits on a Cabinet choosing between two routes that both end in Delhi. The Ninth Schedule option sounds decisive, but it depends on Parliament and offers no certainty, because the Supreme Court has said laws placed there after 1973 can still be reviewed. An appeal is slower but keeps the fight in court.
The sting row shows a quieter irony. Cheluvarayaswamy dares Kumaraswamy to call in the CBI; Kumaraswamy has been asking for exactly that. Each side names the same agency and neither moves first, while Vijayendra's 'third CM' line is aimed at the Congress's own nerves rather than at any evidence. Meanwhile the people with the most concrete grievance, farmers sleeping on NH 48 and students missing exams, are furthest from the microphones.
If both the Centre and the state say the cane price is partly the other's job, who should farmers on the highway hold to account first?
What they are saying
I appeal to motorists travelling between Pune, Kolhapur and Karnataka to avoid NH-48 until conditions improve.
There is a Cabinet meeting tomorrow. It should be proposed in the Cabinet, discussed, and a decision taken.
Today, we will declare nine more taluks as drought-hit.
The Centre has the CBI, so let it conduct an investigation through the agency,
Our wish is that the Congress government should continue in office for another year,
What to watch
- Thursday's Cabinet: does it choose a Supreme Court appeal, a Ninth Schedule request, or both, and what does it say about appointments already made under the 56 per cent quota?
- What the cane growers decided at their Wednesday evening meeting, whether they set a bandh date, and whether the Centre names its joint committee
- Whether the sting row comes up at the Cabinet, and whether Kumaraswamy answers Cheluvarayaswamy or files anything with the CBI or Amit Shah
- The drought memorandum and the date of the Chief Minister's delegation to Delhi
- Any Congress reply to Vijayendra's 'third CM' remark
Your take
Do you agree with the Pulse view?
Sources
- K'taka sugarcane farmers continue NH-48 blockade for second day after talks with Centre fail The South First
- ಕಬ್ಬಿನ ಬೆಂಬಲ ಬೆಲೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಳಕ್ಕೆ ಆಗ್ರಹ: ಎರಡನೇ ದಿನವೂ ಹೆದ್ದಾರಿ ಬಂದ್, ಸರ್ಕಾರಕ್ಕೆ ರೈತರ ಎಚ್ಚರಿಕೆ Hosa Digantha
- ಕಬ್ಬು ಬೆಳೆಗಾರರ ಹೋರಾಟ: ಇಂದು ನಡೆಯಬೇಕಿದ್ದ ರಾಣಿ ಚೆನ್ನಮ್ಮ ವಿವಿ ಬಿ.ಎಡ್ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ ಮುಂದೂಡಿಕೆ ETV Bharat Karnataka
- ಮುಂದುವೆರದ ಕಬ್ಬು ಬೆಳೆಗಾರರ ಅಹೋರಾತ್ರಿ ಧರಣಿ ರಾಜ್ಯವ್ಯಾಪಿ ಬಂದ್ಗೆ ಅನ್ನದಾತರರ ಎಚ್ಚರಿಕೆ Sanjevani
- Karnataka to declare 9 more taluks drought-hit; CM, Dy CM to lead delegation to Delhi for NDRF funds Public TV English
- ಹೊಸದಾಗಿ 9 ತಾಲೂಕುಗಳು ಬರಪೀಡಿತ ಪಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಸೇರ್ಪಡೆ ; 226ಕ್ಕೆ ತಾಲೂಕುಗಳ ಏರಿಕೆ The Federal Karnataka
- K'taka Minister attacks Kumaraswamy on linking sting Op to CM Shivakumar Punjab Kesari (IANS)
- ಕುಮಾರಸ್ವಾಮಿ ಒಬ್ಬ ಕೇಂದ್ರ ಸಚಿವರು; ಆದರೆ, ಅವರು ತಮ್ಮ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ : ಎನ್.ಚಲುವರಾಯಸ್ವಾಮಿ Vartha Bharati
- Third CM under Congress rule not surprising amid internal feud, alleges Karnataka BJP Social News XYZ (IANS)
- It wouldn't be surprising if the state gets a third Chief Minister: B Y Vijayendra Just Kannada