Lucknow: Can Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra or other members of the Gandhi family distinguish between sugarcane and chari, a locally-grown fodder crop, asked Uttar Pradesh minister Suresh Rana. This was his reply when he was asked about Priyanka Gandhi's attack on the government over a recent news report that claimed dues of sugarcane farmers had crossed Rs 10,000 crore in Uttar Pradesh.

"When the Congress was in power, it did not pay dues to the farmers. If Priyanka Gandhi or any other member of the Gandhi family can distinguish between sugarcane and chari, I will start believing that they have the right to speak on farmers," he told PTI in an interview. The UP minister of state (independent charge) for sugarcane development and sugar mills also claimed that Congress president Rahul Gandhi has "accepted moral defeat" and has "fled from Amethi". On the steps taken by the Yogi Adityanath government for cane farmers, Rana said, "When our government was formed, there were pending cane dues but so far, dues amounting to nearly Rs 60,000 crore have been paid." He said the amount was bigger than the budgets of some states, but the government paid it.