BJP promises Budget 2019 will bring relief to farmers

New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) Rejecting the farm loan waiver as a permanent solution, the BJP on Friday said that the Centre will announce relief measures in Budget 2019 that will boost farmers economically.

Addressing a press conference, the Bharatiya Janata Party farmer's cell chief Virendra Singh Mast said that the party would also hold a two-day national convention for farmers in February in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, which would be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"We have sent several requests to the government regarding farmers. In coming Budget you can see it's reflection," he said.

"The Modi government has taken historical steps to improve the condition of the farmers and in the coming days some decisions will be taken to economically strengthen them," Mast, an MP from Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh said.

He, however, did not disclose what kind of measures the Centre was likely to announce.

Asked about agrarian unrest and the Congress' promise of loan waiver that worked for it in the recently concluded Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh where the BJP was ousted from power, he said that loan waiver is not a permanent solution but a temporary arrangement.

"Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced a loan waiver of Rs 56,000 crore but what happened. Did it benefit farmers? This is not a permanent solution," he said.

Announcing the two-day National Convention for Farmers in Gorakhpur, he said that the Prime Minister will address the valedictory session on February 24.

He said the party would organise a press conferences on farmers issues across the country in February and would reach out to the farmers with steps taken by the government in the last four-and-a-half years.