Assam Min hits back at Rahul for his comments on farm loan waiver

Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday lashed out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his comment on Assam government waiving farm loan worth Rs 600 crore.

Gandhi had tweeted yesterday, "The Congress party has managed to wake the CMs of Assam and Gujarat from their deep slumber. The Prime Minister is still asleep. We will wake him up too."

Responding to Congress president's tweet, Sarma told media, "Our scheme is completely different, there's nothing to wake up or sleep. Our schemes were announced one year back, it's to mark the 125th anniversary of the Battle of Patharughat and it's not debt waiver rather a subsidy scheme."

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal yesterday said the state cabinet will provide 25 per cent of loan amount upto Rs 25,000.

Earlier this week, similar decisions were taken by the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh where the Chief Ministers of respective states, Kamal Nath and Bhupesh Baghel announced farm loan waivers soon after taking charge.

The Congress party has been cornering the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government over agrarian crisis while accusing it of overlooking the farmers' distress.

On Tuesday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has said that he will not let Prime Minister Narendra Modi sleep until all farms loans are waived.