Senior Congress leader Suresh Pachouri on May 7 dumped loads of documents at former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s residence as a “proof” that his party has waived loans of 21 lakh farmers after coming to power in the State in December 2018.

However, Mr. Chouhan refuted the Congress claims, dubbing it as a “bundle of lies“.

Mr. Pachouri, a former Union Minister, along with State Minister P.C. Sharma and other Congress leaders brought cartons of documents in two vehicles near Mr. Chouhan’s residence.

They then put the cartons on their heads and walked to the former Chief Minister’s official residence where they dumped the documents.

The Congress claimed that these documents proved that the Kamal Nath government has acted on the party’s pre-poll promise of waiving farm loans.

However, Mr. Chouhan was not convinced with the Congress claim.

Talking to reporters at his residence after the Congress leaders left, he rejected the “documentary evidence”, terming it a “bundle of lies“.

The Congress government is supposed to pay a whopping Rs. 48,000 crore to farmers, but out of it, it has paid only Rs. 13,000 crore to them so far, the senior BJP leader claimed.

“Before the Assembly polls last year, they promised to waive the farm loans in just 10 days after coming to power. The Congress has betrayed the poor farmers,” he alleged.

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan displays a video clip of Congress president Rahul Gandhi while addressing a press conference at his residence in Bhopal on May 7, 2019. | Photo Credit: PTI

MP Congress spokesman Bhupendra Gupta said his party was waiving farmers’ loans in right earnest and that the work to write off debts was put on hold due to the model code of conduct in force for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

Mr. Chouhan has been accusing the ruling Congress in the State of going back on it promise of waiving farm loans.

It is widely perceived by political observers that the Congress’ pre-poll promise of farm loan waiver helped it to come to power in the State after a gap of 15 years.