Ahead of polls, states lure farmers with interest payout for defaulters

In the last assembly polls in MP, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, the incumbent BJP lost power to Congress due to discontent among the farming class that saw consecutive years of low prices

With elections in the three Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh along with the southern citadel of Karnataka due in the next few months, all the incumbent governments have gone out of their way in their last full budgets to woo farmers, who form an important and decisive constituency in all of them.

In the last assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments lost power to the Opposition Congress partly due to discontent among the farming class that saw consecutive years of low prices coupled with other issues including anti-incumbency.

In