On a day's visit to Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for ignoring the plight of drought-hit farmers."Farmers in Bundelkhand are in pain, but that does not affect Modi and Mulayam," Gandhi said at a meeting with farmers before starting on an eight km long 'Padyatra' here.He said his party always stood with the farmers."We waived repayment of Rs 72,000 crore of money that farmers owed to the banks and gave thousands of crores of rupees in 'Bundelkhand package', but that money got siphoned off," Gandhi said, harking back to the Congress-led UPA government.
He said he would raise the issue of Bundelkhand's farmers in parliament and struggle to get for them what was their due.Modi came in, as usual, for special treatment in Gandhi's attack, being targeted for ignoring farmers and not taking any "action" in the case of the suicide on January 17 of Hyderabad university scholar Rohith Vemula."A thought is being suppressed in Hyderabad. But Modi is only shedding tears without taking any decisive action."Modi should fulfil his promise that his government would put Rs 15 lakh in the bank account of every household, said the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family.The Prime Minister instead had been busy multiplying the wealth of the capitalists, he added.Thousands of party activists took part in Gandhi's 'padyatra'.Uttar Pradesh is set to go to polls the next year.