Political drama’: Deputy CM Shivakumar on JPC chairman’s Jagdambika Pal’s visit to state

HUBBALLI: Amid the ruckus over Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) chairman Jagdambika Pal visiting Karnataka to meet farmers, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday said that this was all a political drama since there were elections in the state.

“The BJP started this (sending notices) in 2019, but the Karnataka government remains committed and will not change any record”, he said, adding that they might have come for their political purpose.

“This is all a political drama since there are upcoming elections. Land is a state subject. BJP themselves started this in 2019, they had given notices. Even in Dharwad, they gave notices. It is the continuation of that. But my government is committed, we will not change any record. We will rectify it. We don’t want to affect any farmers. This has all been started by the BJP. They are trying to put the blame on us but we don’t mind. JPC doesn’t have any powers to enter, they might have come for their political purposes since it was not an officially designated visit”, he said.

#WATCH | Hubbali-Dharwad: On Waqf Amendment Bill Committee Chairman Jagdambika Pal’s meeting with farmers, Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar says, “This is all a political drama…Land is a state subject. BJP themselves started this in 2019. They had given notices. Even in… pic.twitter.com/bFKlCP6Adi

— ANI (@ANI) November 7, 2024

Meanwhile, JPC chairman Jagdambika Pal on Thursday morning met various farmers’ organisations in Hubballi and said that the fact-finding report will be presented in the upcoming winter session of the Parliament. He was accompanied by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya. “We will submit the report in the upcoming (winter) session of Parliament,” Pal, adding that he was visiting the state to meet farmers after BJP MP Tejasvi Surya invited him.

#WATCH | Karnataka | The Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf Amendment Bill, Jagdambika Pal meets farmers in Hubballi

JPPC Chairman Jagdambika Pal’s visit is amid controversy over notices to farmers’ land as Waqf land in areas like Hubballi and… pic.twitter.com/n2UxgfFSR5

— ANI (@ANI) November 7, 2024

“I came here along with my team and on the invitation of Tejasvi Surya. Here, farmers who have had their lands with them for decades are aggrieved. The farmers have been working and cultivating their land since 1920s. I had come to meet them. My team was in Bengaluru last month, and again tomorrow I am going to Guwahati. As the Chairman of the Waqf Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), if in any state the farmers are aggrieved, I can come and meet them. I can go alone as the Chairman to prepare the report and with my committee too. I am going across the country. Our work is preparing a comprehensive report by holding discussions with the stakeholders”, he said.

Earlier, Congress MP Mohammad Jawed on Thursday lashed out at JPC Chairman Pal, accusing him of not working in the interest of Parliamentary democracy by taking a “unilateral” decision to visit Karnataka to meet the farmers. He said that the entire JPC team should pay a visit there. (ANI)