MP Cong retorts to PM's 'step-motherly' treatment to rural India remark

Bhopal, April 25 Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the previous governments of meting out step-motherly treatment to rural India, the Congress hit back at the BJP and dubbed the claims a "bunch of lies."

While addressing the people on the occasion of 'Panchayati Raj' day in Rewa district of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh on Monday, the Prime Minister hailed Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for executing development schemes at ground level.

Retaliating to the statements made by both PM Modi and CM Chouhan, the state Congress led by former Chief Minister Kamal Nath also raised questions on "double engine" government.

To the Prime Minister's allegation that the rural part of the country faced discrimination during the previous governments, the Congress claimed that during the last financial year, the Centre has allocated insufficient funds for implementing schemes under the Panchayati Raj system in Madhya Pradesh.

"Under the Panchayati Raj system, the Centre gives 60 per cent funds while the remaining 40 per cent is spent by the state. But, during the last financial year (from April 2022 to March 2023), the Centre was liable to give a total Rs 21,800 lakhs, out of which, the MP government was allocated only 19.39 per cent of the total expected amount," the Madhya Pradesh Congress said in a statement.

Further, the Congress accused Shivraj Singh Chouhan of making false statements regarding the economic growth of farmers in the state.

Notably, on Monday, CM Chouhan had claimed that the economy of farmers in the state has witnessed a tremendous growth in the last few years and it has "doubled" due to efforts and the schemes of the BJP's "double engine" government.

"It is highly unfortunate that CM Chouhan made a false statement regarding the economic growth of farmers in Madhya Pradesh. In its reports presented in Parliament, the Centre has itself claimed that the annual economic growth of farmers in 2022 have decreased to Rs. 8,339 from Rs. 9,740 in the year 2015-2016. According to the Centre's data, farmers' daily income is estimated at Rs. 27, while the debt of each farmer in the country is at an average of Rs 7,40,00," it said.