Amarinder meets PM, bats for farm loan waiver

New Delhi: Punjab's newly-elected Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and made a strong pitch for a loan waiver for farmers of the state.

Amarinder met the Prime Minister in his Parliament complex office, first time after becoming the Chief Minister.

"I mentioned the debt waiver issue to the PM. It was an extension of the demand we made earlier when we had gone to meet the PM as part of a Congress delegation led by party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

"I said the debt loan waiver should be extended to Punjab farmers along the lines of Uttar Pradesh," Singh told media persons after meeting the Prime Minister here.

The newly-elected Punjab Chief Minister is in New Delhi and will meet President Pranab Mukherjee later in the day.

He earlier met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to seek financial support for crop procurement.

"Met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at his residence and asked him for immediate release of CCL for smooth wheat procurement in Punjab," he said after the meeting. Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal also accompanied Amarinder during this visit.

"We have sought a support of Rs 20,653 crore on this account. The finance minister was very supportive. We expect wheat to land in mandis in two to three days," Singh said.

On Congress strategist Prashant Kishor, who failed to deliver a victory for the Congress-SP combine in UP, Amarinder said, "I am very happy with Kishor. He fought well. His IPAC team of 1,700 volunteers had spread across villages and he had a team of 100 plus people in Chandigarh. We did well in Punjab."

Over who would be the next chief of Punjab Congress, he said, "Let Congress president Sonia Gandhi return. I will request her to choose someone else since I, as CM of Punjab, cannot handle both the positions."

Amarinder is here for holding a series of meetings with government's top brass during his first visit to the national capital after taking over as the state Chief Minister.