india

Updated: Feb 23, 2019 23:52 IST

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Saturday stepped up the offensive against Congress president Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of not fulfilling his loan waiver promise in Karnataka where his party shares power with the Janata Dal (Secular).

“It’s you Rahul baba who is giving us advice to waive loans. You don’t even know if potatoes grow beneath the earth or in a factory. I ask Rahul baba to name four rabi and kharif crops each without holding a paper in his hand. And if he is able to name them (the crops), we will not question you anymore,” Shah taunted.

He claimed that only Rs 1,800 crore of Rs 48,000 crore loans were waived in Karnataka despite Gandhi’s promise. He said all BJP-ruled states had waived more loans, and that Uttar Pradesh topped the list with a Rs 55,000 crore waiver. No government had done as much for farmers as the BJP, he claimed at events in Lucknow and Gorakhpur.

Shah said most of the problems of farmers were addressed for the first time since Independence by the Modi government. “Rahul baba and company, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Mamata [Banerjee] mock us when we say that the BJP government will double farmers’ income. We know it’s not a joke. I assure you that by 2022, the Modi government will do that for farmers,” he said.

Comparing 10 years of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre with five years of the Modi government, Shah said, “In 10 years, the Congress waived farmers loans worth Rs 53,000 crore but the corpus of the scheme Modi government has brought to help farmers is Rs 75,000 crore.”

He added, “The Congress gave several Prime Ministers who provided grants to farmers but the BJP has given one Prime Minister who has thought of doubling farmers’ income.”

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) media coordinator Rajiv Bakshi said the BJP has no right to say anything on the issue as the party led government has failed to keep any promise.

“Moreover the BJP was indulging in politics at this time when ‘jawans’ have been killed in terror attack,” said Bakshi.