Union minister for Panchayati Raj and mining and election campaign committee (ECC) chief for Madhya Pradesh Narendra Singh Tomar (in photo) feels the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in the state has done the most work for farmers’ welfare in the country. He said the Congress will not succeed in misguiding the people on this issue.

Talking to The Statesman on Tuesday during a visit to his Lok Sabha constituency here, Tomar said there is no need for a farmers’ agitation in the state because the Madhya Pradesh government has been continously working for their welfare and agricultural improvement for the last 14 years.

Despite this, the state government was ready to have a dialogue with farmers to consider their demands, he added.

“It is the right of every political party to hold movement against the government but they should think about the issue they are agitating on. The agitation conducted by the Congress in Mandsaur has been done to divert public attention from the unsuccessful UPA regime and not to ask questions about its failure,” said Tomar.

He said, “Before 2003, the Congress government was in power for 10 years but it was a total failure on farmers’ welfare issues. To hide their failure the Opposition party is taking help of the farmer agitation.”

On Wednesday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi attended a rally organised by his party at Piplyamandi in Mandsaur district where six farmers were killed in police firing during the farmers’ agitation on 6 June last year. Gandhi paid tribute to the deceased farmers at the rally.

“The Congress is passing through an internal-discord situation and leaders of the state are trying to assert themselves by organising campaigns separately,” Tomar said. Congress leaders, Digvijay Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia are organising Samanvay and Parivartan rallies respectively across the state.

“Congress has no right to accuse the state government of being involved in making bogus voters. The Election Commission will deal with the issue,” Tomar said.

A complaint pertaining to 60 lakh fake voters has been filed by the Congress. A team of the Election Commission is visiting the state to inquire into the issue.