Union Minister Bhagwanth Khuba on Sunday accused the Congress government in Chhattisgarh of politicising the issue of availability of chemical fertilisers, which are supplied by the Centre to states for farmers.

Talking to reporters here, the minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers claimed that farmers in the country never faced scarcity of fertilisers since the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014.

Khuba cited the data of fertiliser stocks available with the Chhattisgarh government, which are meant to be distributed during the ongoing Kharif crops season.?Asked about the state government's claim that the Centre does not supply sufficient chemical fertilisers to the state, the minister said, “The Chhattisgarh government should not politicise the issue of fertilisers. There are multiple other issues that can be politicised.”

Farmers in the country have not fallen short of even one sack of fertiliser in the last eight years since the Modi government came to power, he said.?"The price of fertilisers had gone up five times in the last two years in the international market. Despite this, the Modi government did not hike prices of fertilisers and ensured sufficient supply. Even the total fertilisers subsidy of Rs 1.29 lakh crore has reached to 2.50 lakh crore,” Khuba said.

The minister further informed about the stocks of fertilisers, including DAP, urea etc, available with the Chhattisgarh government and said there was no issue of shortage. The Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government had claimed in the past that the Centre was not supplying enough chemical fertilisers to the state.

(With PTI inputs)