Veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath, who took oath as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister on Monday, cleared the farmers’ loan waiver file immediately after assuming office, keeping the pre-poll promise made to the state. The loans of farmers up to Rs 2 lakh will be waived off, the order stated, adding that loans extended by all the nationalised and cooperative banks would be covered in the announcement, the order stated.
Nath, a nine-time Lok Sabha member from Chhindwara, was picked on Thursday to head the state Congress Legislature Party, after hours of hectic parleys held by party chief Rahul Gandhi with senior party leaders. In his interactions with the media ahead of polls, Nath had reiterated the party's stand on the loan waivers. "Our priority will be to strengthen the agriculture sector to ramp up farm-based economy in Madhya Pradesh," he had said.
Farm loan waiver was a critical poll issue for both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the recently concluded assembly elections. Gandhi had stumped the BJP by announcing waiver in Mandsaur while attending the condolence met of six farmers killed in police firing in June this year. The party walked the talk by mentioning the announcement in its manifesto released early this month and Gandhi repeated the declaration at almost every election rally ever since.
In fact, according to several reports, farmers in Madhya Pradesh stopped repaying their loans, banking on the Congress's promise. According to a report in The Time of India, farm loan repayments have dipped by at least 10% across the state since Gandhi's first announcement on June 6.
Comments
0 comment