Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday took to Twitter to thank farmers on the occasion of farmers’ day, even as party leader from Madhya Pradesh Jyotiraditya Scindia accused the Centre of creating a shortage of the fertilizer urea in the State “by bringing a change in policy because of a change in government”.
Congress treasurer Ahmed Patel also alleged that the Centre was creating an artificial scarcity.
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In his letter of December 21, which The Hindu has accessed, Mr. Scindia said though the government had earlier agreed to allocate 4.1 lakh tonnes of urea to Madhya Pradesh for December, the Centre scaled it down to 3.7 lakh tonnes.
“Perhaps it was done with an eye on election, as now — as soon as the government has changed — a marked decrease in the supply and availability of fertilizers has been seen,” Mr. Scindia alleged.
“As against the promised allocation of 3.7 lakh metric tonnes for December 2018, only 1.8 lakh metric tonnes of fertilizers have reached the farmers. This means that in the first three weeks of December, the distribution has been less than half of what was allocated. This could only mean that the change in government in the State has brought a change in policy for the Ministry,” the Congress leader said.
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Mr. Scindia said owing to a shortage of urea, farmers were being “forced to buy the fertilizer in black [market] by paying exorbitant rates”.
The Lok Sabha member from Guna urged the government to take immediate steps to correct the situation as the rabi sowing season was under way.
Mr. Patel alleged on Sunday that the shortage was only for Congress-ruled States.
“Central government is trying to create an artificial scarcity of urea in Congress-ruled states. This is not in the spirit of cooperative federalism. Their attempt to inflict distress upon farmers for political gains will not succeed,” Mr. Patel said on Twitter.
Agrarian States
Of the four Congress-ruled States now, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have largely agrarian economies.
The Congress’s success in the recent Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have been attributed to the popularity of its promise of farm loan waivers.
“To secure the future of our farmers, I am going to make every effort. This is not just a promise but my duty. On the occasion of the national farmers’ day, I salute our farmers. We are there because you are there,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted.