Rahul Gandhi: It is time for the sleeping PM Modi to wake up

After the BJP governments in Assam and Gujarat announced waiver of farm loans and rural electricity bills, respectively, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said it was now time for "sleeping" Prime Minister Narendra Modi to wake up.

Rahul Gandhi claimed both states made the move under pressure from the Congress, which immediately after forming governments in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh waived farm loans delivering on its pre-poll promise.

"The Congress party has managed to wake the Chief Ministers of Assam and Gujarat from their deep slumber. Prime Minister is still asleep. We will wake him up, too," tweeted Rahul Gandhi.

While the BJP-led government in Gujarat on Tuesday, December 18, announced it will waive electricity bills of ₹625 crore in rural areas, the party's government in Gujarat announced a complete waiver, under its one-time settlement scheme for over six lakh people living in rural parts of the state

Similarly in Assam on Monday it approved a ₹600 crore farm loan waiver. under its one-time settlement scheme for over six lakh people living in rural parts of the state.Rahul Gandhi's latest attack comes a day after he vowed that the Congress and other opposition parties would not let Modi sleep until all farm loans were waived.

There are reports the Modi-led BJP dispensation is mulling major relief for farmers but the contours of such relief are not yet known.

Rahul Gandhi has been championing the cause of farm loan waivers though he recently said in a press conference that they were not permanent solutions to the farming crisis and technological advances in agriculture in consultation with farmers were needed.

“We said our governments will waive loans in 10 days. In MP and Chhattisgarh, it has taken less than six hours,” Rahul Gandhi had said on Tuesday.

He also said if Modi doesn't grant a waiver on farm loans, his party will make the promise in its 2019 Lok Sabha poll manifesto.