No package for sugar mills, Mandya farmers upset

Mandya: Farmers of Mandya have given thumbs down to the state budget presented by chief minister Yediyurappa on Thursday as no package was announced to revive the defunct Mysugar and PSSK sugar mills.
Disappointing the Vokkaliga heartland even after favouring BJP in the KR Pet bypoll and helping party open its account in Mandya for the first time in December, farmers accused the CM of not standing by his word and smashing all their hopes.
Earlier, Yediyurappa had promised to revive the defunct Mysugar and PSSK sugar mills in his ‘home district’ Mandya. The farmers were hoping that the CM would either allocate funds to revive the factories or announce the measures to save them.
“We had pinned our hopes on Yediyurappa. We were expecting a package to resuscitate the two factories. Despite voting for BJP and helping them gain foothold here, Yediyurappa smashed our hopes about Mandya getting a fair share in budget,” said Nagaraju, a farmer.
M B Nagannagowda, a political thinker, said: “By not giving any package, especially for reviving the Mysugar and PSSK sugar mills, BJP seems to have lost its track in furthering its grip over Mandya electorate.”
“Though, it is not good to interpret allocation or non-allocation of funds in state’s budget through a political prism, Yediyurappa should not have betrayed the Mandya voters who had shown enormous faith in him,” he said.
Yediyurappa is also being heavily trolled on social media platforms for ignoring Mandya in the budget.