152 farmer suicides in Cong rule: Minister

Agriculture minister Prabhulal Saini on Tuesday contradicted his cabinet colleague home minister Gulab Chand Kataria saying that 152 farmers committed suicide during the previous Congress government.

“Congress claims there have been maximum number of suicides in Hadoti region under BJP rule. I would like to point out there were 152 suicides in Kota and Baran during the Congress government,” he said at a press conference called at the BJP office in Jaipur.

A few weeks ago Kataria had said that there were no farmer suicides during the Congress rule and three in the BJP rule.

Saini said there had been only three farmer suicides in the BJP rule against the 102 farmer suicides in Kota and 50 in Baran during the earlier Congress regime. “Congress should issue a while paper on what steps it took to prevent suicides and what help they gave the families of the deceased,” he said.

Asked how he was sure all 152 farmer deaths were suicides, Saini said that those who committed suicides belonged to the families of farmers .

Saini said the Congress had not given compensation to farmers for damage to crops due to unseasonal rainfall, while the BJP government has given Rs 7400 crore . The BJP government has also announced loan waiver for farmers, he said.

On drinking water shortage in the state, he held the Congress responsible. “In the past 52 years, the Congress didn’t build any permanent source for drinking water. The public is paying for the sins of the past Congress governments,” he said.

Saini said in its five-year tenure, the previous Congress government spent only Rs 1,225 crore on drinking water, while the BJP government in its four years has spent Rs 2,000 crore on drinking water projects.

He said the BJP has linked 6,994 villages and hamlets to drinking water schemes as against 2,775 during the Congress tenure. BJP took drinking water to 22 cities as against 19 cities in Congress rule.

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