Even as the Congress-NCP coalition government in Maharashtra is drawing flak over farmers' suicides, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi today promised crop loans at three per cent interest to overcome the agraraian crisis.

Addressing her first election rally here in the Vidarbha region, rattled by a series of suicides by debt-ridden farmers, Congress president said if the party-led Democratic Front (DF) government retained power, it would give farm loans for as low as three per cent interest.

Besides, the DF government will give 25 Kg of foodgrains to the poor at the rate of Rs three per Kg every month and build 10 lakhs dwellings for them. She lauded the efforts of the Congress-led UPA government at the centre for efficently handling the agrarian problem, saying it took the historic decision of waiving farm loans of a whopping Rs 71,000 crore to help the small and marginal farmers.

Reaffirming Congress' commitment to protecting the interest of the common man, she said the UPA government's flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme reflected that resolve as four crore rural poor were being provided employment across the country 100 days in a year, she said.