Badal hails Modi sops, Cong mocks

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 1

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said today that the pro-poor and pro-farmer initiatives announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on New Year’s Eve would give much-needed impetus to the economy. In a statement issued here, Badal lauded Modi for taking these historic decisions. He said the PM’s dynamic and visionary leadership was proving to be a boon for the country.

In a separate press release, state BJP president Vijay Sampla said, “Now the dream of millions of Indians to own a house will come true as the Prime Minister has announced a rebate of 4 per cent on loans up to Rs 9 lakh and 3 per cent rebate on those up to Rs 12 lakh. The PM has also provided a major relief to the farming community by waiving interest of 60 days on loans from cooperative and central banks.”

Meanwhile, PPCCpresident Capt Amarinder Singh asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to waive the loans of suffering farmers if he was serious about alleviating their woes in the wake of demonetisation. Reiterating his promise to waive all farm loans in Punjab once the Congress comes to power, Amarinder said Modi should have made it easier for the farmers to take loans from banks and other financial institutions.

PPCCchief spokesman Sunil Jakhar said the PM’s address had left crores of people disappointed as Modi had failed to apologise for the pain they had suffered over the past 50 days. “People were expecting that Modi would give the nation information about the black money collected for distribution among poor, but nothing like that happened,” he added.