Congress grills Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan on farmers’ woes

All India Congress Committee media in-charge Randeep Surjewala asked seven questions on behalf of the party.
Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan (File | PTI)
Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan (File | PTI)

BHOPAL: The Opposition Congress launched a scathing attack on the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh on Friday, seeking a reply from the Chief Minister and his team on seven questions pertaining to the plight of farmers in the Assembly poll-bound state. All India Congress Committee (AICC) media in-charge Randeep Surjewala asked seven questions on behalf of the party.

“We firstly question the present BJP government on what happened to the promise of rendering cost plus 50 per cent as returns to farmers produce.”The Congress leader further asked why since 2013, MP is reporting 21 per cent increase annually in cases of farmers’ suicides, consequently making it the third in the country in terms of maximum suicides cases.

Surjewala further questioned the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government about what happened to the promise of getting the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for MP’s Basmati rice, particularly when there were BJP governments, both at the Centre and the state.The AICC media in-charge further questioned where were those people, who killed six farmers in Mandsaur in June 2017 and what action had been taken against the culprits. “We also ask the CM that weren’t farmers gunned down with AK-47 rifles in Raisen district in 2012.”

Surjewala added that the party would ask more such questions to the CM and his government on behalf of state’s population in the coming days.Painting a sorry figure of the agriculture sector in MP, he said farmers of the state were forced to embrace deaths with losses while Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan manages to grow pomegranates and flowers worth crores in his farmhouse.

Perhaps for the first time firing verbal salvos at the MP CM’s son Kartikey, the Congress leader questioned how the dairy business operated by the CM’s son is selling the Sudhamrit brand of milk at D60 per litre, a price which is not available to any other dairy farmer in the state. He alleged there was a D1,100 crore onion purchase scam and D250 crore pulses procurement scam in MP. He further alleged that the Shivraj government embezzled D50,000 crore on the pretext of offering agriculture pump subsidies in last ten years. 

By BJP’s own admission

Union minister of state for agriculture and farmers’ welfare Purshottam Rupala had submitted in the Lok Sabha in March 2018 that MP was witnessing a annual rise of 21 per cent in cases of farmers’ suicides since 2013.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com