Sukhbir to approach EC on Capt’s loan-waiver promise

Chandigarh : Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said he would approach the Election Commission of India against Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh for “committing a fraud with farmers by giving undertakings to waive crop loans even though it is beyond the jurisdiction of a CM”.
“You promised the state farmers that you would get their loans waived on coming to power. Even before the elections are held, you were seen at the PM’s door, begging for loan waiver. You knew that you could not waive these loans and deliberately lied to the people of Punjab. It is now up to you to come clean on this issue,” Sukhbir asked Amarinder, while talking to the media here today.
The SAD president alleged that this was not the first time that the Congress had lied to the people by making tall promises and not keeping the same. “Earlier, your leaders had promised to give 5 acres of land free of cost to the landless, but did nothing once elected to power,” he alleged.
“Why didn’t you do anything on loan waiver during the 10 years of the UPA rule? Did you even make a single representation to your own Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh or your party president Sonia Gandhi on this issue? Has any Congress government in any state made any effort to waive farmers’ dues,” he asked Amarinder. “The issue of indebtedness has been tackled by the Akali-BJP government which came out with the Settlement of Indebtedness Bill, besides ensuring that the farmers are not charged excessive interest,” he said, adding that the government had recently come to the aid of small farmers by extending them interest-free crop loans of Rs 50,000.