Ruckus in MP House over bonus promise to wheat-growers

During his tenure as Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan had started the practice of paying a bonus over the Minimum Support Price (MSP) to wheat growers.

Madhya Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh farmers, Madhya Pradesh wheat-growers, Madhya Pradesh Assembly, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh Minimum Support Price, kamal Nath

Kamal Nath (L), Shivraj Singh Chouhan

The issue of paying bonuses to wheat-growers in Madhya Pradesh saw acrimonious exchanges between the treasury benches and the Opposition BJP in the Assembly on Thursday, with the BJP MLAs staging walkouts twice.

During his tenure as Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan had started the practice of paying a bonus over the Minimum Support Price (MSP) to wheat growers nearly a decade ago till the Narendra Modi government at the Centre raised the red flag, arguing that the populist measure was distorting the market price of the commodity besides saddling the Union government — which picks the MSP tab — with additional expenditure.

On Thursday, BJP lawmakers wanted the Kamal Nath government to come clean on whether it was going to pay the Rs 160 bonus per quintal announced by it in March this year. The Centre has refused to pay for seven lakh MT of the 73 lakh MT of wheat procured in the state, saying the bonus was responsible for the surplus procurement. The refusal has left the state with bill of Rs 1,400 crore.

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Opposition MLAs repeatedly asked the government whether it was going to pay the bonus. They asked if the state government took the consent of the Centre when it promised the bonus.

In response, Nath said the BJP has 28 Lok Sabha members and they should take up the matter with the Union government. “Munh chalana aur sarkar chalane mein antar hota hai,” the Chief Minister said, without referring to anyone in particular. BJP members vehemently protested against the comment, saying it was objectionable. Nath later said he did not target anyone but could not help it if Chouhan interpreted it that way.

During the session, Chouhan retorted, “Humne bhi sarkaar chalayi, munh nahi.”

Revenue Minister Govind Singh Rajput said the government will pay the bonus under a different name — Kisan Samruddhi Yojana. Former Cabinet minister Narottam Mishra countered this, saying that the government had not made a budgetary provision for making the payments.

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Iterating that his government had paid bonus of Rs 265 per quintal under a different name, Chouhan asked Nath to pay the amount as compensation or under any different head.

Later, calling the Congress government anti-farmer, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Gopal Bhargav led a walkout by BJP members.

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