Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot on Friday reached Delhi to participate in a meeting with the Congress High Command on Saturday. After reaching Delhi, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that a solution for the ongoing farmers' protest should be found soon.
Adding that Congress stands with protesting farmers, Gehlot said that Rahul Gandhi and other party members have been continuously talking about the agitation.
"In this winter, it has been 22-23 days for the farmers braving the cold and sitting at the protest site. Reports are also coming in that around 38 people have died. You and I can not even imagine what's going on with them. When the case was heard in the Supreme Court on Saturday, there was a hope that someone would find a way out but that still hasn't been done. Hopefully, we find a way out soon," Gehlot said.
When asked about the loan waiver promised by the Congress about which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) keeps targetting the party about, Gehlot said that they have been writing letters to the Prime Minister but the Centre doesn't cooperate with them. Those who belong to the nationalized bank, who come under the Indian government, the RBI, their debts have not been forgiven because the Indian government is not negotiating.
"Those farmers under the Rajasthan cooperative bank have been given the loan waiver. However, those who have availed loans from other banks couldn't be since the government is not ready to talk about it," the CM added.
Rajasthan's share of more than Rs 11 thousand crores GST is still pending that the state government has demanded from the Centre, again and again, however, the money still hasn't been received.
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Talking about the fund, Gehlot said that the figures do not lie. Everyone knows that the state governments are struggling to tackle the COVID due to fewer funds.
"The entire financial management is going awry, the revenue has collapsed. The centre should come forward and see what the condition of the states is, and help it. The farmers who have had to struggle, why did the Center let it all come to this situation? If they would have talked to the farmer's leaders, they would have discussed in the Parliament the way they it should be," Gehlot said.
He added that the fact that protests are happening all over the country are really a cause of concern.
The Gehlot government recently completed two years in power. Commenting on that, the CM said, "I have told the people that with their blessings, we have fulfilled half of the promises we had promised for two years ago. Even while the code of conduct came into force, the corona came we did not deter from providing services to people in Rajasthan. Infrastructure also became good in health services and therefore I think overall it was very good."
