BENGALURU: AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday lambasted the BJP for its anti-farmer policies, saying the BJP took over a month to mull over farm loan waivers while Karnataka took a relatively shorter time to implement it. He also criticised the time taken by the Uttar Pradesh government to waive farmers' loans in comparison to other states.
Addressing a Congress rally in Bengaluru, Rahul Gandhi said, "Sometime back I had a conversation with chief minister Siddaramaiah about farmers in the state and their problems and it lasted all of five minutes. In 48 hours, loans taken from state cooperative banks were waived. Unlike the BJP, there was no drama, no tamasha, no dancing and no PR," Rahul Gandhi mocked.
RaGa also said that the process was repeated with CM Capt Amarinder Singh of Punjab. "But to get the Uttar Pradesh government to waive loans, I had to travel for 30 days around UP and hold meeting after meeting with officials. I met lakhs of farmers and the village Panchayat and discussed their problems. Finally, they grudgingly waived the loans," he said.
Rahul Gandhi also criticised finance minister Arun Jaitley for saying that farm loan waiver was not the policy of the Union government and said the Congress would force the BJP to make it their policy.
Rahul Gandhi, who inaugurated the affordable Indira canteens, launched on Wednesday, before arriving at the rally also said that the food was so good that BJP leaders would soon line up outside the canteen.
Meanwhile, amid all the noise about Rahul Gandhi’s visit, the most popular person among the 12,000-strong crowd turned out to be energy minister DK Shivakumar. The minister who has been the cynosure of all eyes following Income-Tax raids on his residences and offices seems to be more popular than chief minister Siddaramaiah, if the whistles and cheers were anything to go by.
DK Shivakumar went a step ahead and stood up and waved to the crowd, when everyone was seated, resulting in a deafening applause.