"Now what does Kamal Nath know about poor farmers? What is his relation with farming?"
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday took a jibe at former Chief Minister Kamal Nath for raising questions related to the income of farmers.
"Jaki Rahi Bhavna Jaisi, Prabhu Murat Dekhi Tin Taisi (Those who have become habitual to criticise, they find fault in spite of having thousands of virtues!). It is Nath's habit, he will criticise." Chief Minister Chouhan told reporters here.
He added, "I am giving the example of Rewa alone, the production of wheat has increased 4.5 times, paddy by 5.5 times, mustard by 35 times and moong has increased 7 times. Now what does Kamal Nath know about poor farmers? What is his relation with farming?"
Reacting to the Congress claiming the announcements of the state government as election announcements, the chief minister said that the construction of Shri Mahakal Mahalok was not started after seeing the election. The first phase had been completed and soon the second phase would get completed.
"We have been working for 17 years. Did we build 4 lakh kilometres of roads after seeing any election? I want to ask the Congressmen that Congress, Raja, Nawab all irrigated 7.5 lakh hectares of land. How much land irrigated under Congress rule for 50 years? We have increased the irrigation land to 45 lakh hectares. The production of electricity was 2900 MW, we have increased it to 28,000 MW."
Madhya Pradesh is forging new paradigms of development. You see Indore, what it was during the Congress era and what it is today. Similarly see Bhopal, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Rewa, Sagar and Shahdol. Development happens in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, Chouhan claimed.
"Now, it is not like that I stop development, it will not stop, it will be continued, those who feel jealous keep feeling the same. Now, after Shri Mahakal Mahalok in Ujjain, Ramraja Lok will also be built in Orchha. Similarly, Vanvasi Ramlok will be built in Chitrakoot, Devi Lok will be built in Salkanpur, Maa Pitambara corridor will be built in Datia too," he said.
Notably, Kamal Nath on Monday wrote on twitter, "Today, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, you (CM Chouhan) announced in Rewa that the income of farmers in Madhya Pradesh has more than doubled. During your present tenure, the MLAs have asked many times questions regarding the doubling of farmers' income in the assembly, but your government did not talk about the doubling of farmers' income even in answer to a single question."
On March 22, 2022, the Standing Committee on Agriculture presented its report in the Parliament and said that the monthly income of the farmers of Madhya Pradesh has decreased from Rs 9740 to Rs 8339, he added.
"I would like to know from you on the basis of which report and which study, you have claimed that farmers' income has more than doubled. Please make that report public, if the farmers of Madhya Pradesh accept that report as true, I will congratulate you," Mr Nath further wrote.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)