MP minister, Shivraj Chouhan spar over crop damage

A war of words broke out between state minister PC Sharma and former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the latter entering a farm field to inspect the damaged crops on Thursday.

After photos emerged showing Chouhan standing in a muddy field wearing boots, Sharma criticised the BJP leader and sought to dismiss his visit as "drama".

"He never used to wear boots, then why is he going there wearing boots now?" he asked while talking to reporters here.

He said the government had instructed the collectorate of each district to carry out surveys to assess the damage to crops.

Hitting back at Sharma, Chouhan said he stepped into the farmlands as he could feel the pain of the farmers and questioned as to why the minister was not going to the villages to inspect the damage caused by heavy rains.

"If I don't wear boots then should I go barefoot? Atleast, I am going to the farmers to understand their pain and their concerns, we are looking at the damage to their crops. But I want to know why are the ministers in the government not going there?," Chouhan asked.

He alleged that the Congress ministers were not helping the farmers whose crops had been affected by heavy rains in the state.

Chouhan had visited the farmlands destroyed by rains in the Vidisha constituency where he interacted with the farmers regarding the damages in the region.

According to an estimate by the Madhya Pradesh government, crops in close to 6 to 8 lakh hectares of farmland have been destroyed by the unusually heavy rains.