MEERUT: A day after UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav -- who was in Mumbai to attend an investors' summit on Thursday -- criticized the Maharashtra government by saying that UP took better care of its farmers, UP BJP chief Laxmikant Bajpai lashed out at Yadav and dismissed his claims. 

"The BJP-led government in Maharashtra has stood with farmers whereas Yadav's government has ignored them in UP," said Bajpai. 

Yadav had attended the summit to invite investments into UP. 

The CM had also stated that UP and not Maharashtra was the highest producer of sugar in the country. 

As per estimates from the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), Maharashtra produced 10.47 million tonnes in the last fiscal, while UP produced 7.1 million tonnes. Yadav had also alleged that Maharashtra was passing off foreign sugar as Maharashtra-made sugar. 

Hitting back at the CM, Bajpai claimed, "The UP government has paid compensation to only 27% of all rain-hit farmers. There is still a staggering amount of sugarcane arrears that need to be paid. It was not the Centre's responsibility to help out one state in particular, but the BJP government at the Centre gave a loan to mill owners so that they could repay farmers at the earliest. On the other hand, the UP government has not acted against errant mill owners."