MP: BJP stages protest over urea supply, loan waiver

BJP workers led by party general secretary Shivraj Singh Chouhan courted arrest here on Friday during a protest over farmers' issues including urea supply. Chouhan, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Gopal Bhargava, and others were arrested and taken to the Cantonment police station. They were released later.

"We called off our protest after officials promised us to streamline urea supply for farmers and conduct a fair probe into a case registered against BJP MLA Pradeep Laria," Chouhan said. Laria is facing a case for leading a protest over farmers' demands.

Chouhan, a former chief minister, also warned that if farmers were not granted a loan waiver upto Rs 2 lakh, as promised by the Congress in the run-up to the last year's assembly polls, the BJP will take to the streets. A war of words has broken out between the ruling Congress and the BJP over shortage of urea.

The Congress has alleged that the BJP-led Central government has not allocated enough urea to Congress-ruled states. The BJP is blaming the state government for `mismanaging' urea supply..