Congress MLA Lakshman Singh on Thursday said Rahul Gandhi should apologise to farmers in Madhya Pradesh for not keeping the promise of loan waiver within 10 days of coming to power in the State.
“There are several farmers in the State who have certificates but banks are saying they’ve not received money in their accounts, so they can’t be exempted yet. Therefore, I had to speak up,” the Chachoda MLA and younger brother of former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh told The Hindu .
He had discussed the issue with Chief Minister Kamal Nath and explained to him the reasons for making such claims.
On Law Minister P.C. Sharma’s announcement on Wednesday that the second round of the waiver would begin next month, he said, “Mr. Sharma should go to the field first and look at the situation.”
On the stump in Mandsaur district before the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Mr. Gandhi had promised farmers that if the Congress came to power in the States, outstanding loans would be waived within 10 days of government formation.
“Instead of making further promises, Mr. Gandhi should tell farmers when their loans will be waived,” he said.
Speaking to reporters earlier, he had suggested that if the party had to be strengthened, its leadership should meet its workers and only then could it come to power in 2024.
The statements come amid infighting among the party’s factions for the helm of the State unit. Early in September, Forest Minister Umang Singhar, considered close to leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, had accused Digvijaya Singh of trying to destabilise the government, thereby giving credence to the Opposition’s claim that he was ruling the roost and managing the government from behind the curtains.
Days later, tension within the party flared up as two MLAs of the Scindia camp accused Health Minister Tulsiram Silawat of corruption. Only when Mr. Nath met party interim president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi and the Umang-Digvijaya spat went to its disciplinary panel did the situation seemed to have been defused.
