BHOPAL, NEW DELHI: On the campaign trail in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday cautioned farmers of the state not to get carried away by the Congress’ promises of a loan waiver.
“A few months ago the Congress had promised a similar loan waiver to farmers in Karnataka, but what is happening in Karnataka now? Forget about waiving of interest or the actual loan, warrants are being issued against defaulter farmers...” Modi said while addressing a poll rally in tribal-dominated Jhabua district.
The Congress has promised a waiver of farmers loans up to Rs 2 lakh in its manifesto. The PM further claimed that in 2008, Madam’s (Sonia Gandhi’s) remote-controlled regime at the Centre had promised an ambitious loan waiver for farmers. “But what happened actually was that out of the total Rs 6 lakh crore outstanding loans, not even Rs 60,000 crore loans were waived off...” claimed Modi.
Meanwhile, BJP vice-president and Madhya Pradesh in-charge Vinay Saharsabuddhe, while stating that the party is mapping each house in MP with a “lotus diya (earthen lamp)” and the party’s flag, claimed, “The people are not falling for the farm loan waiver promises of the Congress...”He said that though the BJP sought to contest on the development agenda, the Opposition put forth narratives of banning the RSS and cow-protection.