Congress Party’s ambitious farm loan waiver scheme, which promised relief to farmers, has also sparked a fiery debate with the opposition party, BRS, which contended the way the plan was being implemented.
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy announced on August 15 that the Congress party is fulfilling its promise to waive farm loans up to ₹2 lakh.
The rollout of the scheme was phased, starting on July 8, with different loan brackets being waived at intervals, culminating with loans between ₹1.5 lakh to ₹2 lakh on this very day.
The initiative, part of the party’s six guarantees before the elections, was aimed at alleviating the financial burden on over 22 lakh farmers. It is estimated to cost the state Rs. 17,934 crore.
However, the move invited sharp criticism from BRS leader and former Minister Harish Rao, who labeled the waiver guidelines deceptive and argued that they exclude many farmers through stringent eligibility criteria.
Mr. Harish Rao said the government’s verification method unfairly targets farmers by linking loan waivers to white ration cards and PM Kisan Samman Nidhi data, potentially leaving millions of farmers out.
The former minister wondered how the loan waiver had cost only around 17,000 Crores.
Earlier, Mr. Rao had even offered his resignation if Congress met its deadline for the loan waiver, challenging CM Revanth Reddy to do the same. This challenge was met with a counter-challenge from Revanth Reddy, who not only promised to implement the scheme but also demanded that Harish Rao apologize publicly if Congress succeeded in its promise.