Senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya today termed as "jumla" (electoral slogan) Congress president Rahul Gandhi's announcement that loans of farmers would be waived within 10 days, if his party comes to power in Madhya Pradesh.
Vijayvargiya said farmers are happy with the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government and that the Congress stood no chance of coming to power in the state, going to polls later this year.
"Rahulji, a loan waiver is not like inserting potatoes in a machine from one side and getting gold from other side. The Congress chief's loan waiver announcement is a 'jumla' like this machine," the BJP general secretary told reporters.
Addressing a rally at Pipliya Mandi in Mandsaur district earlier today, Gandhi said, "The day, the Congress comes to power in MP, count 10 days, I say with guarantee that farmers' loan will be waived within 10 days. It won't take even the eleventh day".
Vijayvargiya said the Congress would not be able to waive loans of agriculturists.
He said the Congress governments in Punjab and Karnataka have not waived loans of all farmers in these states.
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Loan waiver is the prominent demand of farmers who launched a ten-day nationwide protest on June 1.
Responding to a query, Vijayvargiya said, "I believe that common farmers do not consider a loan waiver as a lasting solution. Farmers want that their produce be sold at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) which is one-and-a-half times of the input cost. The Centre had already made announcement to this effect," he said.
Referring to Gandhi's rally in Mandsaur district where six farmers were killed in police firing during an agitation on June 6 last year, the BJP leader said the Congress president should have gone to Multai where 24 farmers were killed in the police firing in year 1998 under the watch of the then Congress government of Digvijay Singh.
"Why Rahul did not shed tears on Multai incident wherein farmers were shot dead in the then Congress rule. They didn't shed tears then," he said.
Vijayvargiya also alleged that erstwhile Congress government did not even compensate the kin of the deceased farmers of Multai but went on to promote the police personnel who had opened fire on farmers.
He said a rally of farmers would be held in Indore on June 8 in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan.