My brother didn't apply for farm loan waiver: Shivraj counters Rahul's claim

A day after Congress chief Rahul Gandhi claimed that farm loans of former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's kin got waived under the Kamal Nath government, Chouhan hit back at the Congress chief saying his kin had not filed an application for a loan waiver.

Speaking to media here, Chouhan alleged that farmers were being betrayed in the name of a loan-waiver. He also claimed that Gandhi doesn't give due respect to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

"Rahul Gandhi had said that even my brother's farm loan has been waived off. In application forms that were presented before Panchayat in Jait, it is written that my brother Rohit hasn't even filled application for farm loan waiver," he said.

"It was stated in the Congress 'vachan-patra' that loans upto Rs 2 lakhs of all the farmers taken from cooperative and national banks would be waived off. It was stated that all the previous and ongoing loans would be waived off. But Congress betrayed farmers and their order regarding the loan waiver is nothing more than an eye-wash," said Shivraj.

"The farmers are worried and have become hopeless because Congress has deviated from what it promised. Now when I say this, Rahul Gandhi gets angry with me," he said.

"Kamal Nath and Rahul Gandhi claim that loans were waived off within 2 hours. The order only waives short term crop loans, what about mid-term and long term crop loans? What about horticulture, sericulture, and other farmers? The Congress has simply deceived the farmers," Chouhan asserted.

The BJP leader was on Tuesday handed a list of 21 lakh farmers whose farm loans have been waived by the state government.

A day after, Congress workers accused Chouhan of lying about the policies of the Kamal Nath-led government in the state. As a mark of protest, the workers sent a package containing eye drops, almonds and 'chyawanprash' to Chouhan in order to cure "memory loss, defective eyesight, and impaired hearing".

Polling was held in Madhya Pradesh for 13 of its 29 parliamentary seats in the fourth and fifth phases of Lok Sabha election.

Polling for the rest of the 16 seats will be held in the sixth and seventh phases on May 12 and 19, respectively. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.