Cong Will Waive Off Farm Loan If Voted To Power In Odisha: Rahul

Bhubaneswar: With 2019 elections due in the next two to three months, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday promised to waive off farm loans within 10 days of coming to power in Odisha.

He said his government here will fix the minimum support price of paddy at Rs 2,600 as it believes in the safety and security of farmers and not treat them as mere vote banks.

Launching a frontal attack on Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik for ignoring the farm sector and failing to unleash the true potential of the state, he said the high rate of unemployment in Odisha has resulted in over 60 lakh youths migrating to different states in search of jobs.

“You count till 10 days after we come to power and Congress will waive off farm loans in Odisha,” Rahul said at a rally here.

Unveiling his plans for the distressed farmers, the Congress president also said that food processing plants will be set up in every district, which will be connected to the cold storage, and the products exported to USA.

Referring to the Congress promise of waiving off farm loans during election campaigns in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and fulfilling them after coming to power, he said the move should not be seen as a ‘gift’ to farmers but as pulling them out of trouble.

“Why cannot farm loans be waived when Narendra Modi could give 3.5 lakh crore to 15 big businessmen?” he questioned.

Rahul said that he cannot make promises matching the PM about depositing Rs 15 lakh in every Jan Dhan account but will certainly implement the promise of waiving off farm loans.

Throughout his 40 minute speech, Rahul targetted both Naveen and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in equal measure, alleging that both harbour similar philosophy and favour industrialists. He maintained Odisha is not poor but the people are because the present regime has given away all the state’s resources to 15-20 industrialists. He also took on the CM for the state of health care in Odisha, drawing attention to incidents of husbands carrying ailing wife on shoulder or bicycle from hospital.

The Congress president described Naveen as the “junior partner” of the Narendra Modi government which “remote controls” the state. “Narendra Modi is shielding the Odisha government from the chit fund scam and is remote controlling it from the Centre. And Naveen has given in to the Centre’s directions as well as that of RSS from Nagpur,” Rahul alleged, referring to the state government’s pro-GST, pro-demonetisation stand and bailing out the BJP-led government on several legislations in Parliament.

Asking the crowd in the rally if anyone among them has got job as promised by the Naveen government or by the Modi government, Rahul said they will fulfill the second promise of providing jobs to the youths if elected to power in Odisha. He said that 1.3 lakh government jobs in Odisha, 1200 lecturers post and 3000 teachers post are lying vacant.

Taking jibe at the PM, he said the days of achhe din are not heard anymore. Today, it has been replaced by “chowkidaar chor hai”. He referred to the controversial Rafale deal, alleging that Modi has purchased the fighter jets at inflated rates and favoured Anil Ambani’s company over Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to produce them in India under offset clause. The jobs that would have come to youths through the HAL plant in Odidha has been wasted, he contended.