PM must announce loan waiver for farmers: Pilot
Now the PM is coming next week; will he be presenting chief minister Vasundhara Raje as the face for assembly elections in 2018?
State Congress president Sachin Pilot demanded on Tuesday that the Prime Minister announce loan waiver for farmers during his visit to the state on August 29.
States, such as Karnataka and Punjab, have waived off farmers’ loans, and provided minimum support price and bonus, but no such initiative has been taken in BJP-ruled states, Pilot said.
“The chief minister should persuade the PM for waiving of loans,” he told newspersons at the state party office.
The BJP government, despite protests by the Opposition, passed three bills – land pooling act, special investment region act and land acquisition act – in the state assembly, compromising with farmers’ rights, Pilot said.
“Now despite objection by disscams trict collectors, pasture land is sanctioned for mining, benefitting the mining mafia,” he alleged.
The BJP has announced Yeddyurappa as the CM candidate in Karnataka before elections, and Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh, Pilot said.
“Now the PM is coming next week; will he be presenting chief minister Vasundhara Raje as the face for assembly elections in 2018?”
He alleged that the state faced worth ₹45,000 crore under the BJP government.
“Lokayukta investigation was sidelined and main accused was reinstated; another 50 people were found involved but till date no accountability has been fixed.”
Pilot questioned the PM’s claims on ending corruption. “What progress has been there in Lalit Modi case? No one knows.”
This year 70 people died of swine flu but the government has taken no steps to control the viral disease, he said.
Pilot expressed confidence that the Congress would win a by-election to the Ajmer Lok Sabha seat, which fell vacant after sitting MP Sanwarlal Jat died recently. “The party’s candidate will be declared by the AICC but the by-election will be won by the Congress,” said Pilot who represented the seat from 2009 to 2014.