Nagpur, Feb. 29: The race to hog credit for pushing through the farmers’ loan-waiver scheme has begun.

Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party has been the fastest of the lot, lining up a string of public meetings across Maharashtra to tom-tom as its achievement the waiver announced in the budget.

“Of course we will, now that the loan waiver has come through,” NCP spokesperson Madan Bafna said, brushing aside claims made by the Congress.

“We are thanking the UPA for accepting the proposals of the agriculture minister. Loan waiver is a historic decision, but it has come after a string of steps lined up by Pawar saheb, starting with the interest waiver on farmer loans.”

The first NCP rally is on March 2 in Akola. It will be followed by rallies at Kolhapur, Nagpur, Jalgaon, Thane and Beed. Pawar’s nephew Ajit and deputy chief minister R.R. Patil will participate.

Not to be left behind, the Congress made loud claims that it had been pushing the Centre to green-light the waiver.

“Had Pawar taken the initiative, the loan waiver should have come much earlier,” Congress spokesperson Husain Dalwai said in Mumbai.

Pawar had accompanied the Prime Minister to Vidarbha in July 2006 where the government had only announced an interest waiver of Rs 750 crore for farmers.

The Shiv Sena, which has been vocal in demanding the loan waiver at its Vidarbha rallies, demanded its share of credit, too.

“I consider the decision to be the victory of farmers’ unity,” Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray said.

Uddhav has been slamming Pawar for paying more attention to cricket and Indian Premier League player auctions than to the dying farmers of Vidarbha.

“The waiver will provide relief only to those farmers who have taken money from financial institutions. What about those who have borrowed from private moneylenders at varied interest rates? We will continue our fight for such farmers,” Uddhav said.