BJP’s loss due to anti-farmer policies:OPCC

Bhubaneswar: The state Congress unit said Wednesday the BJP lost three state polls due to its “anti-farmer” stance and predicted a similar fate for the ruling BJD in Odisha as it is “insensitive” to peasant’s problems.

The Congress was poised Wednesday to form governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The Assembly poll results show that the process has begun for the Congress to ascend to power, Odisha PCC president Niranjan Patnaik told the media here.

Results of the Assembly election in the three states amply prove that farmers’ problems and issues pertaining to the farm sector played a major role in the voting, he said.

“Congress will bounce back to power both in Odisha and at the Centre as people are unhappy over the anti-farmer approach of BJD and BJP,” he said.

The OPCC president described BJD and BJP as “two sides of the same coin”, saying both the political parties are ‘incapable’ of safeguarding the interests of farmers.

Their inaction on MSP and implementation of the M S Swaminathan committee report showed that both the parties are working against the interests of farmers, he claimed.

Stating that farmers in Odisha are facing serious problems, Patnaik said reports of suicide by debt-ridden peasants have been pouring in frequently from different parts of the state but the state government has done ‘little’ to mitigate their plight.

 He said if the party comes to power in Odisha, it will waive farm loans and provide solar pump sets to farmers.

In Odisha, where Assembly polls are due early next year along with the Lok Sabha elections, Congress will be locked in a direct fight with the ruling BJD, he claimed.