Rahul Gandhi meets Narendra Modi seeking loan waiver for farmers

In this photograph released by India's Press Information Bureau on December 16, 2016, Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi (R) meets with Congress Party Vice President Rahul Gandhi (6L) and party leaders in New Delhi. Pic/AFP

New Delhi: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a waiver of loans given to farmers.

A Gandhi-led Congress delegation also raised the issue of farmer suicides with Modi and urged him to write off the loans given to farmers like it has been done in the case of corporates.

"Thousands of farmers are committing suicide across the country. Every single day a farmer is committing suicide in Punjab. We met the Prime Minister and apprised him about the plight of farmers across the country," Gandhi told the media.

"This government has waived off loans of Rs 1.40 lakh crore to corporates. So we urged the government to waive off the loans of the farmers as well," he said.

The delegation comprised senior Congress leaders including Punjab state unit chief Captain Amarinder Singh and Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.

Gandhi also said that the government decision to remove import duty on wheat was a "terrible blow" to the farmers.

"The Prime Minister too admitted the condition of the farmers to be grave. But he did not say anything about waiving off the loans to farmers," he said.

Gandhi's meeting with Modi comes days after he vowed to expose the Prime Minister's "personal complicity in corruption".