Loan waiver to meet unpaid distress bill, says PM

Mounting a scathing attack on the BJP, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said government's historic initiative to waive farmers' loans on an unprecedented scale was to meet the "unpaid distress bill" left behind by the erstwhile NDA government.

"Doubts have been raised about the resources required for this write-off," he said responding to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address to the joint session of Parliament.

Several members including Leader of Opposition LK Advani had asked the government from where it would provide Rs 60,000 crore towards waiver of bank loans of small and marginal farmers.

The Prime Minister said Advani and some others had asked from where will the money come.

"Let me remind the Leader of the Opposition that what we have done is nothing more than picking up the unpaid distress bill which the NDA government left behind," Singh said.