Malappuram (Ker), Sep 27 (PTI) The Congress party on Tuesday claimed that after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister the character and nature of all the commodity boards have been changed to "parking slots of BJP leaders and workers".

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AICC general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that earlier the boards were run by professionals or IAS officers till Modi came to power.

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Thereafter, these boards lost their character and became "political boards", he alleged while briefing the media about the interactions of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with various farmers groups between the two legs of the day's Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"The Modi government has changed the character of all the commodity boards --spices, coffee, tea, rubber boards etc. These were run professionally until Modi ji became PM. Now they are parking slots for BJP leaders and workers. They are no longer commodity boards. They have become political boards," he said.

Regarding Gandhi's interactions with farmers, Ramesh said they raised the issues of huge imports of rubber taking place into India, not getting adequate compensation for the land that is being acquired by the state government, demarcation of Eco-Sensitive zones, man-animal conflicts near forests, plight of coconut farmers and price rise.

Gandhi heard them and assured that he would raise their concerns in the Parliament and the Congress party in Kerala will raise the same in the state assembly, the AICC general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)