Waqf notice to Vijayapura farmers: Basanagouda Patil Yatnal to boycott BJP fact-finding team

Vijayapura: Senior BJP lawmaker Basanagouda Patil Yatnal said on Monday that he would boycott the five-member BJP team constituted to study and listen to the plight of Honavada farmers who were served eviction notice by the Waqf Board.

“What is the intention behind keeping Bijapur MP Ramesh Jigajinagi and me out of the BJP fact-finding committee?,” he questioned party state president B Y Vijayendra at a press meet here.

“I was the first legislator to speak against the misdeeds of the Waqf Board in the House of Assembly. Vijayendra is sidelining the real fighters.... Why didn’t he speak against the Waqf Act all these days? We don’t need such incompetent man as party president. The party leadership should sack him from the post,” Yatnal said.

“The Honavada incident has become a national issue. What’s the need for a fact-finding committee?. Vijayendra should stop doing such petty politics,” he said.

Yatnal, however, said that he would welcome Vijayapura district minister M B Patil’s announcement on forming a taskforce to set right the problems faced by Vijayapura farmers due to the Waqf Act.

Yatnal warned of a statewide protest, along with legal battle, if the state government fails to remove the mention of Waqf in records pertaining to farmland and government land by November 3.