Rashtriya Lok Dal’s senior leader Anil Dubey on Tuesday said the BJP had ignored the farmers’ issues while it was portraying itself to be their well-wishers. “It is the time of sowing of crops but the farmers are not getting fertilisers and seeds easily as the cooperative societies remain closed in most of the districts,” he pointed out.
The senior RLD leader said the party would launch a massive agitation to expose the BJP’s misgovernance in the time to come. Dubey said the BJP leaders were now covering up their failures and misleading farmers by making false claims. “Even as farmers are facing a lot of difficulty in getting fertilisers and seeds and cooperative societies are lying closed, the state BJP government is claiming that the same is available in abundance at different centres in the state,” he said.
Hitting out at the Union Government led by BJP, Dubey said the Government had utterly failed in fulfilling its promise. “It has failed to provide jobs to youths, one-and-a-half times more price for crops to farmers and doling out Rs 15 lakh to each of them. Contrary to it, the corruption and price hike are hitting the all-time high. The law and order in the BJP-ruled States has derailed. To divert the attention of the public from its poor performance, the BJP leaders are raking up temple issue,” he said.
The RLD leaders expressed surprise over the hike in fuel prices. “In the international market, the price of crude oil is low. Despite this, the price of diesel and petrol is witnessing steep spurt,” he pointed out.
Dubey said the BJP misgovernance had been exposed and public would give a befitting reply to the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. “We will hold agitation in different districts in the time to come. The party is planning to hold a meeting with the district level RLD workers and leaders. Right now our leaders are busy in Assembly election in Rajasthan. The plan of holding the agitation will be decided by the senior leaders in the time to come,” he said.
RLD sources said the issue related to farmers was one of the hot issues in the ongoing Assembly elections. “Nearly all leaders of the parties, grouped against the BJP, are hitting the BJP on farmers’ issue in speeches. The RLD always remained ahead in the race for fighting/voicing their concern for farmers’ interest. So speaking on the issue this time and side stepping from the temple issue is part of a well chalked-out strategy of the senior leaders. The RLD leaders had been asked to focus on farmers’ issue as it would give them an edge in states where RLD is contesting Assembly election,” the sources said.