Priyanka lying, farmers being given Rs 12,000: CM Chouhan

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday targeted Congress general secretary Priyanka Vadra Gandhi over the latter’s claim that farmers were unable to make Rs 27 per day, saying growers in the state are being given Rs 12,000. “I would like to say that Rs 6,000 from the prime minister and Rs 6,000 from me are being directly deposited into the bank accounts of farmers. Don’t tell such a lie that it can’t be stomached,” he told reporters here.

The CM, however, did not specify whether the money was being deposited into the farmers’ accounts monthly or yearly. “Farmers got loans at 18 per cent (interest) during the Congress rule. We are giving them loans at zero per cent. She said that the daily income of a farmer was just Rs 27 a day,” he said.

Addressing a ‘Jan Aakrosh’ rally in Gwalior on Friday, Gandhi, without naming anyone, said that the Centre was handing over the country’s wealth to two businessmen, one of whom she claimed earned Rs 1,600 crore per day, while a farmer was unable to make Rs 27 per day.

She also promised that the abandoned farm loan waiver scheme would be restarted if her party is voted to power in MP, where assembly elections are due by the year-end.

Ahead of the last Assembly polls in 2018, the Congress had promised to waive farm loans of up to Rs 2 lakh. The loan waiver scheme was believed to be one of the major factors behind its victory, though with a slender margin, over the BJP.

The Congress claims it wrote off the loans of lakhs of farmers in the state but the BJP discontinued the scheme after coming to power.

The Congress government under Kamal Nath fell in March 2020 after several MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia walked out and joined the BJP, paving the way for Chouhan to return as the CM. Later, Scindia was made the Union civil aviation minister.