Without naming Rahul Gandhi, Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said the then Congress government in Madhya Pradesh did not waive farmers' loans despite its "top leader" making a promise before the elections.

He was speaking at a public meeting as part of the ongoing `Janashirwad Yatra' campaign of the ruling BJP in Talen and Sarangpur towns of Rajgarh district ahead of the year-end assembly polls.

“Congress leaders used to say in 2018 that if the party came to power, (farm) loans will be waived within ten days. But see the difference between the statements of its national leader (apparent reference to Rahul Gandhi) and his actions.... the first ten days passed, then 30 days, even 15 months went by, but was anybody's loan waived?” he said.

The Congress, when in power, turned the state secretariat into a “den of corruption,” Scindia, who left the Grand Old Party in 2020, alleged.

Despite being in power for 56 years, the Congress turned Madhya Pradesh into a “Bimaru” (laggard) state, he added.

He also alleged that when the coronavirus pandemic hit the state, then chief minister Kamal Nath had no time for dealing with it, but he did attend IIFA film awards in Indore where he had “a hero on his left and heroine on his right and he was standing in between.” Because of the hard work of (current) Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP's COVID warriors people received help in time, Scindia said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a Hercules plane to Raipur for transporting oxygen, he said, adding that had the Congress been in power, these things, especially the development of two vaccines in the country, would not have happened.

Notably, it was the exit of Scindia and MLAs loyal to him from the Congress in March 2020 that brought down the Kamal Nath government and paved the way for the BJP to return to power in the state.

During the Congress regime, the country had to beg for vaccines from foreign countries, be it smallpox or BCG vaccine, but things have changed for the better now, Scindia further said.

Praising the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system, he said earlier the country's prime minister used to say that out of one rupee sent from the Center, only 15 paisa reaches the people, but under the leadership of the current prime minister, the whole amount goes into the people's bank accounts.

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