'Neither revolutionary nor a favour': Warring taunts Jakhar for self-praise over fertiliser subsidy

Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring questioned Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar's gratitude towards the Centre for fertiliser subsidy, calling it a long-standing official policy.

Slamming Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar for his remarks on continued fertiliser subsidy by the Centre, state Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring on Tuesday questioned if something ''revolutionary'' or ''special'' had been done to warrant such gratitude.

Warring said in a statement released here that fertiliser subsidy has been the official policy of all governments for a long time, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not the first one to grant it, as ''Jakhar seems to make everyone believe''.

Earlier in the day, the state BJP chief claimed that international prices of DAP and urea fertilisers had surged sharply due to the West Asia conflict. Despite this, he said, the Centre remained committed to ensuring uninterrupted fertiliser supply to farmers.

Jakhar said India is importing urea at nearly Rs 100 per kilogram, while farmers are receiving it at only Rs 6 per kilogram.

Warring recalled that the prime minister has also asked the farmers to avoid using fertilisers.

''What is the point in claiming that you provide subsidies on fertilisers, when at the same time, you ask them not to use these?'' he asked.

The PCC president said that no amount of subsidy would be enough to meet other input costs for the farmers -- be it the diesel, labour or the rising inflation.

''These things will offset all the benefits of the so-called subsidy, which the government had to provide in any case to the farmers'', he said, adding that the government was not doing any ''special favour'' to the farmers who are feeding our nation.