Two farmers commit suicide, hold CM Kumaraswamy responsible

MANDYA: On Friday the chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, visited Mandya to inaugurate various projects, and he also received a letter from a 44-year-old sugarcane farmer who had killed himself and left a suicide note which was addressed to him.

In the note, the farmer, Jayakumar, had mentioned that the government was responsible for mounting the debts that made him drive himself to despair after four years of drought.

On Thursday I the Ballari district, another farmer had committed suicide, police said on Friday. Jummani Lingappa, who was 40 years old belonging to the village of Varadenahalli, did not own farmland but took loans for the purpose of cultivating the crops on the land which is owned by his mother, police said on Friday.

The twin suicides are most likely to increase the pressure on Kumaraswamy to resolve the problems of sugarcane growers and other farmers who had been affected by drought. The CM has also been under attack from the opposition regarding the cane growers’ crisis, and the suicides are likely to give his detractors further ammunition.