Farm loan waiver was a key promise in the Congress manifesto in its electoral fight against the BJP in the three key Hindi-heartland states where the Congress emerged victorious on December 11.
A day after BJP-ruled states of Assam and Gujarat waived off farm loans and electricity bills in rural areas respectively, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that his party has "managed to wake" the chief ministers of Assam and Gujarat "from their deep slumber" and insisted that he will rouse a “sleeping” Prime Minister Narendra Modi too.
“The Congress party has managed to wake the CMs of Assam and Gujarat from their deep slumber. PM is still asleep. We will wake him up too,” the Congress chief wrote on Twitter.
Gandhi's comment came a day after he said he would not let PM Modi sleep till a loan waiver is given to all farmers.
On Wednesday, after Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the newly formed Congress government in Rajasthan announced farm loan waiver up to Rs 2 lakh as promised by Rahul ahead of the state Assembly polls.
Taking to Twitter, Rahul said, "It's done! Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh have waived farm loans. We asked for 10 days. We did it in 2".
According to the reports, the waiver would cost Rs 8,000 crore to the state government.
Earlier, the Vijay Rupani government in Gujarat had said that it will write off electricity bills of more than Rs 600 crore. The move will benefit farmers as well as commercial and household users.
The Biplab Deb government in Assam on the other hand announced a Rs 600-crore farm loan waiver to benefit around eight lakh farmers.
Both the announcements were made after the newly formed Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh announced farm loan waivers.
(With inputs from agencies)