The Congress party asked the Centre to devise concrete proposals to help farmers and MSME workers. It said the Centre’s announcements here on Monday were not enough to address the crisis in both the sectors.

Congress’ communication-in-charge, Randeep Singh Surjewala, said that the earlier packages too remain as mere announcements. “We will give a detailed response on the packages announced on Tuesday. The so-called package of ₹20 lakh-crore remain just as an announcement. Not a single rupee from this package has reached the farmer, worker, MSMEs or the unemployed people. It seems that the Centre has decided that it will not give any assistance to 130 crore population of the country,” he said.

Surjewala said giving loans with interest cannot be considered aid. “This Government doesn’t know the difference between supply-side and demand-side. They believe in voodoo economics. They should apply real economics and start helping people. That is raj dharma . Estimated loss in rabi harvest itself is ₹50,000 crore. False promises are not enough,” he said.

Former Minister and senior Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said in Twitter: “First, PM announces that FM will announce package. Second, FM announces package. Third, Gadkari regurgitates what PM and FM have said. This is Maximum Headlines, Minimum Deadlines.”

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