NEW DELHI: The NDA government at the Centre on Thursday hit out at the Congress for seeking to politicise the farmers’ agitation in Madhya Pradesh. Claiming that the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s bid to visit to Mandsaur was just a “photo opportunity”, the ruling dispensation at the Centre stressed that the “miscreants have been identified and they will be punished”.
Reiterating that the NDA government at the Centre and the BJP led MP state administration have taken scores of initiatives to improve the conditions of farmers, Union Minister for information and broadcasting M Venkaiah Naidu cautioned the Congress from politicising the farmers’ agitations, while reminding number of incidents during the Digvijay Singh led government in the state in the past in which a large number of farmers were killed in police firing. The minister accused the Congress of stoking the violence in MP. “The Congress vice-president (Rahul Gandhi) is attempting a photo opportunity, which he does on a regular basis,” said Naidu, while rueing that the “Congress is attempting to instigate the violence in MP”.
He sought to remind the Congress that 24 farmers had died in police firing in Betul in the state when the party was in power.
Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Radha Mohan Singh also hit out at the Congress for its attempts to fuel the agitation in MP. “What did they (Congress) do so far for the welfare of the farmers. They had been in power all these years. The Centre and the state government have done a lot to help improve the situations of the farmers,” said Singh.
The BJP leader GVL Narsimha Rao, while reiterating the “criminal-political” conspiracy behind the violence in MP, claimed that the perpetrators have been identified and they would be punished. He stated that the local Congress leaders sought to unleash violence in the garb of farmers’ agitation.