Bhopal, Nov 14: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused the BJP of toppling his party’s government in Madhya Pradesh in 2020 by purchasing MLAs, and expressed confidence that the grand old party would win around 150 seats, out of the 230, in the November 17 state assembly elections. He was addressing an election rally in Vidisha, around 55 km from the state capital.
“A storm is going to come in favour of the Congress. The party will be winning 145 to 150 seats. Five years back, you (people) elected a Congress government but BJP leaders (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi, (MP Chief Minister) Shivraj Singh (Chouhan) and (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah purchased the MLAs and stole your government,” Gandhi said.
The Kamal Nath-led Congress dispensation, which was in power in Madhya Pradesh for 15 months till March 2020, waived farm loans of 27 lakh farmers. But by toppling that government, the BJP deceived labourers, farmers, small traders and unemployed people, he alleged.
The Congress ousted the BJP from power in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh through love and not hatred, he said.
“The BJP ran a 40 per cent cut government in Karnataka…(After Congress came to power there) I told the Karnataka chief minister to return the money that was snatched by the BJP government from the pockets of poor people in five years. I told him to return the money to the poor, which the BJP had given to the rich,” he said.
People in the Congress-ruled Karnataka and Chhattisgarh are getting LPG cylinders at Rs 500 each, while people in other states are paying Rs 1,200-1,400 here for the same, Gandhi said.
The former Congress president said the Congress fulfilled all its promises in Karnataka, including farm loan waiver and free bus travel to women.
Farmers in Chhattisgarh are getting the guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) of the crop, and labourers are being paid Rs 10,000 as wages. This is strengthening the local economy, he said.
While reiterating various guarantees of his party in Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi said that the MSP of wheat will go up Rs 2,600 per quintal, which will further be increased to Rs 3,000, while paddy will be purchased at Rs 2,500 per quintal.
Gandhi claimed that the farmers of neighbouring Chhattisgarh don’t want their land to be sold. (PTI)
“A farmer in Chhattisgarh told me that he doesn’t know the price of his land. He said that he has nothing to do with the price because he is not going to sell it because the Chhattisgarh government is giving the right price for his crop and waived his loan,” he said.
We put money into the pockets of farmers and labourers, who made purchases from small traders, thus strengthening the local economy, he added.
PM Modi used to claim that he set up 500 industries in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress MP said, and asked, “Do you know any of them?” Gandhi reiterated that in Madhya Pradesh, too, farm loan up to Rs 2 lakh will be waived if the Congress is voted to power.
Accusing the BJP of giving contracts to big contractors and to Ambani and Adani, Gandhi said, “Rs 14 lakh crore loan of rich people have been waived. This is not the money of Adani. This is GST money, which is given by common people on every expense.” He said that all the airports, ports, roads belong to people. (PTI)
