The statement made by Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Bhupesh Baghel on the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy was malicious, indecent, and disrespect to democracy, the BJP claimed here on Wednesday.
Defending the letter which Chief Minister Raman Singh had recently written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking a hike in the minimum support price of paddy, State BJP chief Ramsevak Paikra also warned the newly-appointed PCC chief Baghel to refrain from making such baseless statements. The minimum support price of paddy had been fixed by the Central Government. For this if the Chief Minister will not write a letter to the Centre than should he write it to the Prime minister in ItalyIJ Paikra said sarcastically.
If Baghel did not have this basic knowledge, it was clear the Congress party will suffer in his leadership which was very much visible now, he said. He said the country was governed by the norms laid down in the constitution and both Central Government and Sates worked in tandem for the welfare and development of the people. There should not be any narrow politics.
If Baghel did not change himself, his party was going to meet the same fate in New Delhi what it saw in Chhattisgarh, he warned while referring to Congress defeat in State’s recently held Assembly polls in which the BJP pulled off the winning hat-trick. Paikra who has also been inducted into the BJP Government as Home Minister, said the BJP Government had been voted to power for the third term only because of the good works it had done over the past years. He said the State Government facilitated the farmers by providing farm loans at one per cent interest.
If the Congress was concerned about the farmers in the State it should have pressurised the Central Government to fix the minimum support price of paddy at Rs 2100 per 100 kg, he said.