After seeking Rahul Gandhi apology, Congress MLA wants Sonia Gandhi to meet party workers

BHOPAL: A day after he said former AICC president Rahul Gandhi should apologise for his announcement on farm loan waiver, Congress MLA from Chachoura seat Laxman Singh on Wednesday drew a parallel between his party and the BJP. He said that BJP national president Amit Shah comes to Bhopal and meets party workers. Likewise, AICC president Sonia Gandhi should also come and meet Congress workers here.
Decision on state Congress president can be made in a day after meeting workers, he claimed. “Congress workers cannot meet the top leadership,” said Laxman Singh, brother of senior leader Digvijaya Singh. “The leadership meets a select group of people and takes feedback. Party president Sonia Gandhi should come to Bhopal. BJP’s Amit Shah came here before the elections,” he said.
Speaking to TOI, Laxman Singh argued that political party workers feel charged after meeting the national president. “Congress workers only see the AICC president on television. They want an opportunity to meet the party national president. After meeting workers, Congress president can appoint the PCC chief in a day. This major decision can be made in a day if she meets party workers,” the MLA said.
On Tuesday, the Congress MLA started a controversy after he said that former AICC president Rahul Gandhi should “apologize” for making the announcement promising farm loan waiver in the state before elections. Singh stood-by his statement on Wednesday. “We had promised farmers that loans up to Rs 2 lakh will be waived within ten days after Congress government comes to power,” the MLA who is five-times former MP from Rajgarh constituency said.
“Till now, some farmers have received the benefit but not all. The government has distributed loan waiver certificates to farmers. But banks are refusing to give them loans even after producing the certificate because they say the government has not deposited the money,” Laxman Singh argued.
“So, we have to apologize to farmers and say we could not fulfill the promise within promised time. We have to clarify that this commitment will be fulfilled and give a time limit. Rahul Gandhi made the announcement and he has to apologize and specify how much time it will take to complete implementation of the loan waiver scheme,” he said. “You cannot lie to farmers,” he added.
State Congress office said that its MLA was speaking “white lies”. PCC media department chairperson Shobha Oza defended the Kamal Nath government.
She said, “It is totally wrong to say loan waiver scheme hasn’t been implemented. More than 20 lakh farmers in the state have benefitted in the first phase of the scheme implementation and the second phase is ongoing. Our chief minister worked night and day to implement the scheme. During UPA regime, Rs 72000 cr was allocated for farm loan waiver.”
Oza argued that Laxman Singh as Congress MLA should first ask the BJP about its non-fulfilment of promises. “What happened to asking the BJP about its promise of creating two crore jobs per year? Why is he not speaking on the present economic slowdown in the country and increasing unemployment?”
Congress questioning why Laxman Singh is not asking BJP questions on non-fulfilment of promises is because he switched to the rival party in 2004, soon after the Congress led by his brother and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh lost the assembly elections in 2003. Laxman Singh was four-times Lok Sabha MP for Congress and once for the BJP from 2004 to 2009. He returned to the Congress in January 2013.
Meanwhile, the BJP took a dig at the Congress’ internal bickering. State BJP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Pratap Singh said, “BJP has been saying from the start that the loan waiver scheme is a fraud. Now, people from within the Congress have started admitting that farmers loan waiver could not take-off. If Rahul Gandhi promised that he would change CM if loan was not waived in ten days, then now after ten months he should change the CM.”