Waiving off farmers' loans unacceptable, says Eknath Khadse

Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse today said that the opposition's demand to waive off farmers' loans was unacceptable due to poor financial condition of the state.
Talking to reporters, Khadse said that Maharashtra's current debt is Rs 3.85 lakh crore and Rs 24,000 crore is needed to pay annual interest.
"If loans are completely waived off, the government will need another Rs 24,000 crore," he said, adding that the previous experience of loan waiver was not good.
"Genuine and needy farmers were left out and rich landlords got waiver from banks to the tune of Rs 50 lakh," he said, alleging that banks headed by Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders which were deep in corrupt practices, had used the loan waiver to improve their poor financial condition.

When asked about the Shiv Sena, Khadse said that the party is firmly with the BJP in the alliance government, adding that Sena's mouthpiece and Marathi daily newspaper Saamna, has a right to criticise the government.