Farmers killing themselves to 'welcome' CM: Pawar on Buldhana suicide

A day after a man hanged himself in Maharashtra's Buldhana district wearing a BJP poll T-shirt, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday taunted that farmers were committing suicide to 'welcome' Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to their constituencies. Police on Sunday said 38-year-old farmer Raju Talware was found hanging at his residence in Khatkhed in Shegaon taluka, part of Jalgaon (Jamod) Assembly seat. Fadnavis was on tour in Buldhana at the time when the man's body was found.

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"Ill effects of BJP regime," says Sharad Pawar

Addressing a rally at Vaijapur, Pawar said, "This is a result of ill effects of the BJP regime" and asked the gathering "shouldn't this change". Pointing out that the farmer was wearing a BJP promotional T-shirt, he said, "The man who ended his life wanted to indicate that farmers are suffering because of this government." He said the Congress-NCP government had understood that debt was a disease and worked to reduce the burden on farmers.

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Police had said that initial probe revealed Talware had run up debts. Pawar claimed that he, as Chief Minister, had reduced interest rate on crop loan to three per cent, with interest being waived off if the farmer repaid the loan in time.

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