Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar
PTI
Bhopal: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday claimed that 14 crore people were pulled out of poverty in the country under the BJP-led NDA's rule in the last nine years.
Speaking at campaign rallies in Neemuch and Mandsaur districts ahead of the November 17 assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, he also accused the Congress of not fulfilling its promise of farm loan waiver in the state.
"The Congress has promised to waive farmers' loans in Madhya Pradesh, but after coming to power (earlier) it did not do so and closed a number of welfare schemes,” the BJP leader alleged.
Speaking at Jat village under Javad constituency in support of BJP candidate and minister Om Prakash Saklecha, Tomar said the Congress always did injustice to the poor while the BJP has always taken care of them.
In the nine years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, 14 crore people in the country have come out of poverty while in Madhya Pradesh this number was 1.39 crore, the Union minister claimed.
Referring to the Rs 1250 deposited into the accounts of women under the BJP government's Ladli Behna scheme in Madhya Pradesh, he said Congress could not digest this success and is raising questions about the scheme.
After the elections, this amount will be raised to Rs 3,000, Tomar said.
To protect the honour of farmers, the government is paying them Rs 12,000 (annually) through central and state government schemes, he said.
Later, speaking at a meeting of first-time voters in Mandsaur, Tomar said they were born post 2003, and hence they would not be knowing about the power, water situation and condition of roads prior to that.
The BJP ousted Congress from power in the state in 2003.
Madhya Pradesh was considered a `BIMARU' (laggard) state then, but under the BJP rule it shed that tag because of the slew of development measures, the Union minister said.