Congress hits back at Shivraj Singh over farmer loan waiver issue, claims loans of even his kin got waived

A day after Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused the Kamal Nath-led Congress government of duping farmers over their proposed pre-poll promise of farmer loan waiver scheme, the Congress hit back at Chouhan, claiming that his own family members benefited as their loans had been waived off under the scheme.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath

  Bhopal: The Congress launched a scathing attack on senior BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the farm waiver loan issue which has left the political rivals at the crossroads. A day after Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused the Kamal Nath-led Congress government of duping farmers over their proposed pre-poll promise of farmer loan waiver scheme, the Congress hit back at Chouhan, claiming that his own family members benefited as their loans had been waived off under the scheme. Congress MLA alleged that Shivraj's brother Rohit and his uncle's son Niranjan Singh's loans were waived off under the government's Jai Kisaan loan waiver scheme. Congress MLA Sachin Yadav supported his claim by releasing a list of farmers whose loans had been waived off. The list includes the names of Rohit Singh and Niranjan Singh along with the amounts which had been waived off. Earlier on Tuesday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath  said so far crop loans of over 21 lakh farmers have been cleared by his government and rejected the BJP's claim of the Congress not fulfilling its pre-poll promise on loan waiver. BJP national vice-president and former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has claimed the ruling Congress has failed to implement the farm loan waiver scheme it had promised ahead of the November assembly polls. However, Nath rejected Chouhan's assertion and reeled out statistics on implementation of the scheme. "Within hours of coming to power (in December) we issued orders for waiving farm loans as promised. The process of doing it is going on and as of now we have waived agriculture loans of 21.06 lakh farmers in the state," he told reporters at his residence here. In run up to the assembly polls, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had announced to write-off agriculture loans of up to Rs 2 lakh within 10 days of his party coming to power in the state.