‘Crop loan waiver’ to Shivraj Singh Chouhan's kin sparks row

Bhopal: A political row has erupted in Madhya Pradesh over a claim by the Kamal Nath government about  the writing off of a crop loan of kin of former chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice-president Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi waved documents to establish the state government’s claim at his election meeting in Sagar in the state on Thursday.

He asked Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, who was flanked by him, to send copies of documents to Mr Chouhan to call his alleged bluff.

Minutes after Mr Gandhi flaunted the documents at his election meeting, Mr Chouhan’s brother Rohit Singh, the purported beneficiary of the farm loan waiver scheme, lodged a complaint with the local divisional commissioner disowning the purported application submitted to the government seeking to write off his crop outstanding.

“I have never applied for a farm loan waiver. In fact, I am not eligible for the scheme since I am an income tax payee. My signature on the application seeking to waive loans has been forged. It is a political conspiracy to defame the former chief minister Mr Chouhan”, Mr Singh told reporters late on Thursday evening.