It’s time to punish him: PM Modi attacks Sharad Pawar again, says he did nothing for farmers as agriculture minister

Addressing an election rally for BJP candidate Ranjitnaik Nimbalkar in the Malshiras area under the Madha constituency, without naming Pawar, the Prime Minister said, “A heavyweight leader from Maharashtra was the agriculture minister in Congress government at the Centre. During his time, the FRP (fair and remunerative price) for sugarcane was Rs 200 per quintal. Now during the Modi rule, the sugarcane FRP is Rs 340 per quintal.”

Speaking at another rally in Latur, Modi said the opposition Congress reaped benefits from problems and thus did not want to solve them. Addressing a public rally here, he urged people to ensure the voting percentage increases and said Latur can play an important part in ‘Viksit Bharat’.

In Madha, PM Modi said sugarcane farmers had to make rounds of the Sugar Commissionerate to get their payment when Pawar was the agriculture minister. He said from the 1990s, sugar mills were hassled by income tax department. “This leader used to be the agriculture minister. I as chief minister of Gujarat used to urge him to do something to resolve the income tax problems of sugar mills. I wrote several letters to him and also met him. But he did nothing. When the NDA government came to power, we gave Rs 10,000 crore relief to the sugar mills… We waived off old income tax demands and resolved legal issues as well. This benefitted our sugarcane farmers… From March 2023, we have made a Rs 10,000 crore special loan provision so that they can make faster payments to sugarcane farmers and ensure good production,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Dharashiv on Tuesday. (PTI)

When Pawar was the agriculture minister, Modi said, the then Congress government purchased agricultural produce worth Rs 7 lakh crore from the farmers. “But in the last 10 years, we have purchased agricultural produce worth Rs 20 lakh crore. There cannot be any comparison between these purchases,” he said.

The PM said as Madha MP, Pawar had promised to resolve the water crisis of the constituency. “Fifteen years ago, one top leader had come to contest from here… Then he had taken an oath that he would ensure water to the drought-hit area. But did he ensure water for you? No. He did nothing to resolve your problem. He did not have the guts to again contest the election from here… Isn’t it time to punish him?”

Modi said in the last 60 years, Congress PMs kept parroting the line “garibi hatao”. “Other than repeating the line, the Congress did nothing. When my government came to power, in the last 10 years we have pulled 25 crore people out of poverty,” he said.

He said when the government in Delhi used to release funds for farmers, the Congress “hand” used to gobble it up. “Now, this son of yours is sitting in Delhi…The amount released from Delhi goes directly to your account.”

At his rally in Latur, Modi said, “Be it the government of Devendra Fadnavis or Eknath Shinde, we have always worked to solve problems. Projects like Jalyukta Shivar, Marathwada Water Grid project are meant to solve the water woes of Latur. Congress never wanted to solve problems in fact they reaped political benefits from them so they linger over them.” He said the Congress and INDIA bloc had tried to oppose these schemes.