Bhopal: The opposition Congress ramped up its attack on chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and accused his government of presenting forged data to win the Krishi Karam awards.
Speaking to reporters, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala alleged that the state government presented concocted data from 2010 to 2015.
Giving an example, he said the state presented agricultural production for 2012-13 at 287 lakh tones – a year-on-year growth of 25 per cent.
However, when the state reported crop production of 300 lakh tones in 2013-14, the previous year’s production was shown as 234 lakh tonnes. The data was sourced from the state agriculture department, he said.
The Congress-led UPA government at the Centre had launched the Krishi Karman award in 2010-11 to recognise states’ contribution in increasing agricultural production.
Surjewala said the fraud of MP government came to fore in 2017 when the MP agriculture department sent reports to the Centre.
“The agriculture census, carried out by Modi government exposed the Shivraj government’s record on agriculture further,” said the Congress media in charge.
“From 2011 to 2016, the report says the number of farmers in MP increased but the acreage decreased by 1.66 lakh hectares,” he said.
Farmers having farmland of less than one hectare increased by 24% while big farms were reduced by 23%, he said. “The acreage of SC farmers shrunk by 35% while it reduced by 28% for ST farmers,” he added.
Surjewala further questioned as to how the chief minister could remain in power if such a “massive fraud” had taken place during his tenure. The Congress leader, however, kept fending off questions on why his party could not detect the fraud till 2014 when it demitted power.
The BJP, however, dismissed as lies Surjewala’s claims. “He forgot that it his government also conferred Krishi Karman awards on BJP and the then agriculture minister Sharad Pawar heaped praise on MP for phenomenal growth in agriculture in the Parliament,” said BJP state general secretary Banshilal Gurjar.
Responding to a question about RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha’s remarks on Ram temple, Surjewala questioned the locus standi of Sinha. “Is he Home minister, Prime minister or head of the ruling party?”
“RSS is Manthara and BJP is Kaikeyi and the both have forced lord Ram in exile for 30 years,” Surjewala said in an oblique reference to the delay in the construction of Ram temple despite the issue being a political agenda of BJP.
Surjewala also rubbished rumours of a rift between Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia over ticket distribution and said, “There are no differences on ideologies or views and its all rumours fuelled by the BJP.”