SHIVPURI: Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Tuesday said the Centre's new farm laws were introduced without consultation amid the coronavirus pandemic and claimed it would end the minimum support price mechanism and harm farmers.
He was addressing rallies in Karera and Pohri Assembly seats here, both among 28 that will see bypolls on November 3.
He said the three laws would end the work of mandis and leave those connected to these markets unemployed.
Pilot hit out at the BJP for bringing such laws while publicly proclaiming it was working towards doubling farm income by 2022.
He said the NDA government, since 2014, had tried to end land acquisition laws brought in by the earlier Congress dispensations so that corporates can usurp farm plots.
He added that the BJP had come to power in MP through the back door and its longevity will now be decided by the voters, something he referred to as the "beauty of democracy".
The Rajasthan leader also took a swipe at the BJP saying its old allies, like the Shiv Sena and Akali Dal, had left the NDA fold due to "repression".
Meanwhile, Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday termed his former colleagues Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh as siblings who "ruined" the state.
Campaigning for November 3 byelections in the state at Biora in Rajgarh and Badnawar in Dhar district, he targeted Nath over transfers of officials.
The Congress rubbished his allegations.
"Bada bhai-chhota bhai (elder brother and younger brother) turned Vallabh Bhawan (state secretariat) into a den of corruption. Nath would be described as the world's biggest industrialist, so I thought he would bring industries to the state, but in reality he started a transfer industry," Scindia alleged.
A superintendent of police was transferred five times in six months when Kamal Nath-led Congress government was in power between December 2018 and March 2020, the former Congress leader alleged.
"Liquor and mining businesses also thrived. A minister even complained to the Congress president against him. Bada bhai (Kamal Nath) became chief minister, chhota bhai (Digvijaya Singh) became super CM and in 15 months, they ruined the state," Scindia further said.
Referring to his exit from the Congress alongwith MLAs loyal to him which led to the Nath government's fall, Scindia said for the first time in last 70 years 22 MLAs, including six ministers, resigned for the cause of development.
The state was back on the track of development after Shivraj Singh Chouhan took over as chief minister, he said.
Reacting to Scindia's allegations, state Congress spokesperson Jitu Patwari said transfers made by the Nath government were justified, as it had come to power after 15 years and wanted to change governance.
The allegations of corruption were baseless and the Congress has evidence about Scindia's own questionable land deals, he said.