Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday targeted the Congress leadership over its promises of free education and cash incentives to students in MP and alleged that the party's state chief, Kamal Nath, is cheating even the Gandhi family by forcing them to make false announcements.
Chouhan was referring to a public address by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the tribal-dominated Mandla district on Thursday ahead of the November 17 assembly elections.
"Earlier, the Gandhi family cheated everyone, but Kamal Nath is now cheating the Gandhi family. I saw the video of Priyanka Gandhi being asked to make an announcement. She had made a slew of announcements and sat..then she said one more important announcement...," Chouhan said in a press conference at his residence.
Chouhan said that when Priyanka announced that education in MP would be free from Classes 1-12 if her party was voted to power, Kamal Nath went up to her and asked her to make some corrections.
"Priyanka said, You speak, but Nath insisted that she only speak, and then she started reading the speech and announced that from Classes 1-8, Rs 500 would be given, from 8-10, Rs 1,000, and from 10-12, Rs 1,500 would be given every year," said the CM.
Just then, Chouhan claimed, Randeep Surjewala, Congress general secretary and party's in-charge of MP, walked up to Priyanka and asked her to correct to "per month" instead of "per year" "...but madam pointed out that 'per year' was written in the speech. Just imagine, they first write something..and ask her to read..see their seriousness..then change it from 'per year' to 'per month'. They don't intend to do anything, neither to give nor to take." "Earlier, they also made Rahul Gandhi (then Congress president) make a false announcement that if farmer loans were not waived, then the chief minister would be changed within 10 days... despite Rahul's reservations.
"It is the Congress policy of confusing people for seeking votes," said the senior BJP leader.
During her speech in Mandla on Thursday, Priyanka announced that her party would provide cash incentives every month and free education to schoolchildren from Classes 1-12 in the state, but she was also not clear on it while reading the important announcement, claimed Chouhan.
He said that the Congress, in its 2018 manifesto for MP polls, had promised to give school dresses, textbooks, and high-quality study material free of charge but later stopped schemes introduced by the BJP government like the distribution of laptops, cycles, and scholarships for meritorious students.
Chouhan also said that the Congress had promised to provide houses to the people free of cost but refused to give houses to eligible persons under Prime Minister Awas Yojana of PM Narendra Modi on the grounds of "inability to provide 40 per cent grant".
"They have snatched Modi ji's houses and Mama's (Chouhan) laptops, cycles and fees of the students and have now come again to cheat the people. They are unable to decide whether to give incentives to students every month or every year. It is the falsehood of Congress. They made Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi speak lies, but people know everything." Chouhan stressed.