New Delhi, Feb 24:
With the government set to transfer the first instalment of Rs 2,000 to about 2 crore farmers over the next few days, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday termed it as a “bribe for votes” and said the “greater shame” is that the Election Commission is unable to stop it. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the Rs 75,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, by transferring the first instalment of Rs 2,000 each to over one crore farmers. “Today is the ‘Cash for Vote’ day. The BJP government will officially give a bribe of Rs 2000 per agricultural family to get their votes,” Chidambaram said in a series of tweets. The money will go to the cultivating farmer as well as the absentee landlord, the former finance minister said. “Nothing can be more shameful in a democracy than ‘Bribe for Votes’. The greater shame is that the Election Commission is unable to stop the ‘Bribe for Votes’,” he said. Under the scheme, another one crore farmers will be covered in the next 2-3 days, an agriculture ministry official had said. In the interim Budget 2019-20, the central government had announced the PM-KISAN scheme under which Rs 6,000 per year will be given in three instalments to 12 crore small and marginal farmers holding cultivable land up to two hectares.
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