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'It's Done': Rahul Gandhi After Rajasthan Announces Farm Loan Waiver As Well

Rajasthan became the third Congress-ruled state to announce farm loan waiver after Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
A file photo of Sachin Pilot, Rahul Gandhi and Ashok Gehlot.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
A file photo of Sachin Pilot, Rahul Gandhi and Ashok Gehlot.

Rajasthan on Wednesday became the third Congress-ruled state to announce a loan waiver for farmers after Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The state government waived short-term crop loans from cooperative banks and loans of up to Rs 2 lakh taken by farmers from other banks.

While campaigning for the recently concluded assembly elections in five states — Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had promised to waive farmers’ loan within 10 days after the Congress comes to power.

Soon after the Rajasthan government announcement on Wednesday, Gandhi tweeted, “it’s done”.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said the waiver will apply to loans taken up to 30 November.

Targeting the previous government, Gehlot said it had waived short-term crop loan of only up to Rs 50,000 taken from cooperative banks.

Now the Rs 50,000-limit has been removed, Gehlot added.

He said the Vasundhara Raje government’s scheme would have cost Rs 8,000 crore, but only Rs 2,000 crore were actually spent in writing off the loans.

The remaining burden has been passed on to the new Congress government, he claimed.

Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot said the government’s decision to waive off farm loans was a step towards fulfilling the commitment of the Congress party to farmers of the state.

(With PTI inputs)

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.