MSP hike yet another jumla, an electoral lollypop: Congress

July 04, 2018 21:13

The Congress said the hike in minimum support price for kharif crops, announced by the government today, was a "jumla" (rhetoric) and "electoral lollypop" aimed at wooing farmers ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The party charged the Modi dispensation with "duping" farmers and said that it had failed to live up to its promise of fixing MSP at 50 per cent above the cost of production.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged that government has not given cost plus 50 per cent to farmers for any crop as per recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices.

He also alleged that the MSP announced today would be given to farmers only next year, by the time this government would be out of power and another one would pay.

"The MSP declared today does not fulfil the promise of cost plus 50 per cent of produce. If this is not betrayal with farmers, what is it?" he asked.

"Farmers have been duped yet again. This MSP does not fulfil the promise of giving cost plus 50 per cent to farmers as per CACP recommendations. It is a betrayal with the farmers. This is merely a PR exercise on MSP and is a mere electoral lollypop'," he told reporters.

The Congress leader said the recommendations of the CACP for 2018-19 are yet to come and the government has taken into account last year's recommendations to give MSP for next year.

"In May 2014, using false promises Prime Minister Modi gained the support of the farmers, but in the last four years, farmers did not receive the right MSP," he alleged.

Surjewala said the farmers have neither got MSP nor a loan waiver, even as prices of inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides, power and diesel have risen considerably.

-- PTI

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