Farmer suicides — the result of crippling debt and devastating poverty — are nothing new for India. But a spurt in farmer deaths in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, where Congress party scion Rahul Gandhi has made it his business to start the campaign for next year's state elections, is political dynamite.

Since April 30, when Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the region's Banda district with big promises, nine farmers have killed themselves in this small pocket alone, the Times of India reports. Meanwhile, there are perhaps hundreds more farmers among the 330 suicides reported by the district hospital between January and May.

There are no official figures on the motive behind these and other Bundelkhand suicides, but the official tally confirms that there were some 519 suicides in the seven districts in the first five months of this year. Regardless how many of those deaths stemmed from farm debt, it marks an "alarming rise" compared with the 568 and 583 suicides committed for the entire years of 2009 and 2010, respectively, or with the 1,275 suicides reported between 2001 and 2005 — a period that included two years of harsh drought.

The reason for the increase may well be debt, the Times of India said, noting that the region's outstanding rural bank debts have risen 21 percent since 2010.

Political wrangling hasn't helped. While Gandhi is pushing to make Bundelkhand a campaign issue, the central government which his Congress party heads has refused to grant Gandhi's chief rival in Uttar Pradesh — current Chief Minister Kumari Mayawati, leader of the Dalit-oriented Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) — some $18 billion in relief funds she has requested for the destitute region.

Local authorities deny that the suicides are linked to high debt, the paper said. Banda district magistrate A K Dwivedi said, "We've been in the line of fire for the spate of suicide deaths in the district. Deaths have occurred, but we've examined each case carefully and not a single person has died because of hunger or debt. Although farmers who died were poverty stricken and had also taken loans, their reasons for committing suicide were personal."

Farmer advocates disagree.

The paper quotes Banda-based farmer activist, Pushpendra Kumar, as saying, "It's politically sensitive when cases of suicide are suddenly highlighted. (But) if governments don't intervene with measures that actually help the farmers, things will get worse. We are not asking for loan waivers. We're asking for sustainable development; we're seeking solutions to our problems."