BHOPAL: A day after Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made a slew of promises in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan dubbed those promises as “a pack of lies.” He accused state Congress chief Kamal Nath of duping the Gandhi family.
“It was the Gandhi family that first duped one and all. But it’s Kamal Nath who is now duping the Gandhi family. What happened with Priyanka Ji on Thursday speaks volumes about it,” said Chouhan in Bhopal on Friday.
In a rally in Mandla district on Thursday, Priyanka Gandhi made a slew of new promises. “She first read out a speech, which contained the promise of free education up to Class 12. Later, she read out that an annual stipend spanning between Rs 500 and Rs 1,500 will be given to the students of Classes 1 to 12.
“Then Congress national general secretary in-charge of MP, Randeep Surjewala, intervened and told her that the stipends will be given on a monthly basis and not annually, upon which she questioned then why is annual stipend written in the paper given to her,” Chouhan said.
He said it showed how Kamal Nath continues to dupe the Gandhi family. “In 2018, Nath prompted Rahul Gandhi to make a false promise of waiving farm loans within 10 days of coming to power. And now, Nath has duped Priyanka by prompting her also to make false promises,” Chouhan said.
Questioning the Congress on Thursday’s poll promises, Chouhan pointed to promises made by it in 2018, Vachan Patra (manifesto), in MP. “Congress’ 2018 Vachan Patra contained a promise of providing free books, uniforms and other study materials to school students. But after coming to power, the Kamal Nath government shelved our previous government’s Medhavi Vidyarthi Yojana and stopped giving laptops and cycles to school students.”
Responding to the CM’s remarks, Priyanka Gandhi took to social media platform X, “We’re talking about education and children, but those who are adept at diverting public attention are understanding something else. Shivraj Ji, Congress doesn’t believe in dictatorship, where there is no place for voices of its own leaders.”