Making good on its election manifesto promise of a farm loan waiver, the BJP government in Karnataka under Chief Minister (CM) B S Yeddyurappa told the press that loans upto Rs 1 lakh per farmer borrowed from nationalised and cooperative banks, will be waived off, with the process to begin in the next two days.

According to the party, the newly sworn-in government has begun the discussions regarding the loan waiver with the banks, with a plan to be finalised in the next 24 hours, as reported by BloombergQuint.

The total agricultural loans in the state reportedly amount to Rs 1.2 lakh crore with loans granted by nationalised and cooperative banks accounting for Rs 81,000 crore of the total amount. Of this, an amount of upto Rs 1 lakh per farmer is to be waived off.

Karnataka will be the seventh state to implement a loan waiver with Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana already having done so.

The loan waiver assumes significance as it was a part of the BJP’s election manifesto. The party is still to prove its strength in the state assembly and has been granted 15 days to do so by the state’s Governor Vajubhai Vala. The move will assume huge significance in the scenario that the state goes to polls again.

Also, the waiver can be viewed in the purview of the BJP appealing the state’s largely agrarian vote base, a move that might help it garner the support of rebel MLAs from other parties for the floor test.