Raipur: A ‘paddy price war’ has broken out between Congress and BJP in Chhattisgarh with the rival parties leaving no stones unturned to woo the 36 lakh farmers in the state in the two-phase assembly elections, scheduled to be held on Tuesday and November 17.
A couple of days after BJP pledged to hike the procurement price of paddy to Rs 3,100 per quintal, if returned to power in the state in the polls, Congress on Sunday tried to outdid the saffron outfit by promising to enhance the price to Rs 3,200 per quintal.
Chhattisgarh is the first state in the country to introduce a policy of procuring paddy directly from the farmers, to be procured by the Centre through Food Corporation of India.
The policy was introduced by the previous Raman Singh government.
Congress had recorded a landslide victory in the 2018 assembly polls riding piggyback mainly on the twin-promise to increase the paddy procurement price to Rs 2,500 per quintal and waive the crop loan of the farmers.
The party had secured 68 out of 90 seats in the last assembly polls.
The Bhupesh Baghel government has further increased the procurement price of paddy to Rs 2,640 per quintal a few months back.
The state government had procured a record 92 lakh tonnes of paddy last year and has declared to start procuring paddy from the farmers by the end of this month.
The Centre has been procuring paddy from the state government at the minimum support price (MSP) which is Rs 2,183 per quintal currently.
Incidentally, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi a few days back pledged to increase the procurement price of paddy to Rs 3,000 if his party was voted to power in the state in the polls.
“We have outsmarted BJP by promising a better price for paddy than the one promised by the saffron party. The move will help us consolidate our base among the farmers further in the polls”, a senior Congress leader said.
A BJP functionary however said that the party has promised to release the two years unpaid bonus on the paddy procured from the farmers in 2017 and 2018, if BJP returned to power in the state.
It may prove to be a game changer for BJP in the polls, he added.
The Congress has meanwhile promised to waive farm loans again if the party retained power in the state in the polls.
