Chandigarh, May 21 -- Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday said that the reported move of the government to charge 7% interest on crop loans is a frontal blow to the farmers and asked the government to immediately withdraw this decision.

In a statement, Hooda said that the Congress government had taken a historic decision to reduce the interest rate on crop loans from 11% to 4% across the country. "This decision was taken on the recommendation of the committee of chief ministers headed by me. Also, in Haryana, our government had completely abolished the interest on crop loan and made it zero, but now BJP has increased it to 7%, which is a direct loot of the farmers," he said.

Hooda said that despite having gove...