Gandhinagar/Ahmedabad:

Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and state president of ruling BJP Jeetu Vaghani has hailed the decision of the union cabinet to hike the minimum support price (MSP) for Kharif crops while the state president of main opposition Congress Amit Chavda has termed it a decision with forthcoming election in mind.

CM Rupani said that the decision was ‘gold-like’ for the farmers of Gujarat as well as the whole country. Modi government at center was resolute to increase and double the income of farmers.

Talking to newsmen Vaghani termed the decision a ‘historic’ one. He also said that it was a step towards doubling the income of farmers by 2022.

He also took a dig at congress for showing scepticism about the decision. ‘Congress had no interest in solving the problems of farmers. It did not took steps to reduce or end their problems during its rule and was now trying to play-down a decision which was very good for the farmers. Congress should publish on its web-site what steps it had taken for increasing the income of farmers,’ he said.

GPCC president Chavda on the other hand claimed that the decision was taken keeping in mind the coming loksabha elections. He also said that it was a mere illusion of statistics. ‘During UPA government the growth rate of agriculture sector was higher at 4%. The export of agri produces has also gone down during the present regime,’ he said.

The Modi government has approved a substantial increase in the minimum support price (MSP) of most kharif crops, which will put an additional burden of more than Rs 15000 crores on the exchequer.

Congress MLA Harshad Ribadiya on the other hand said that farmers could not be benefited merely by increase in MSP. ‘Arrangements should be made for procurement at this rate for actual benefit,’ he said.

DeshGujarat