Is PM's 'Farmers' Relief Plan' intended to lose elections: Chidambaram's dig at Modi

New Delhi, Dec 28: 'Was PM's 'Farmers' Relief Plan' intended to lose elections?', asked former Union Minister Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram as he took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks that Congress' loan waivers were only to win elections.

The former Union minister claimed the plan of the BJP would imitate the previous Madhya Pradesh government's plan of paying farmers the difference between the minimum support price and market price and said the earlier plan had brought no relief to the indebted farmers.

"The prime minister says that Congress governments' loan waivers are only to win elections. So, shall we assume that PM's 'Farmers' Relief Plan' is intended to lose elections?" he tweeted.

"The 'pay the difference' plan will help only the farmer who has a marketable surplus. What about the farmer who has no marketable surplus? He is also in debt," he tweeted.

Chidambaram also said that eight months' revenue collection was less than 50 per cent of target and the fiscal deficit was 115 per cent of the estimate. "Where is the money for the new plan," he asked.

With just months ahead of general elections, the BJP government is considering several measures to support farmers in distress, for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a nearly three-hour meeting at his residence on Wednesday evening. PM Modi held discussions on a wide-ranging farm relief plan with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, BJP chief Amit Shah and Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.

One step that was considered was to pay farmers the difference between the Minimum Support Price for their crop and the market rate. The price differential could be credited directly to the banks of the farmers.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs