Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday asked the voters of Haryana to oust the BJP in the October 5 polls, saying this is a fight against injustice and untruth and also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging he is the leader of those who break trust and an expert in telling lies.
Urging the people of Haryana not to fall for BJP's poll promises, Kharge claimed the party has failed to fulfill commitments made to voters in the past.
At an election rally at Badhra in Haryana's Charkhi Dadri, Kharge targeted the BJP over several issues, including demands for debt waiver and legal guarantee on MSP from farmers, and claimed people have made up their mind to bring the Congress to power in the state. "It is Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri's birth anniversary today. Mahatma Gandhi taught us truth and non-violence. I don't want to say this - how much truth and how much lies those in power speak," he said.
"Modi ji toh bharosa todne walo ka bhi sardar hai (Modi is the leader of those who break trust.) His numerous lies, promises, you know about them," he said in the presence of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik.
The Congress is contesting in 89 of the total 90 assembly seats leaving the Bhiwani segment for INDIA bloc ally CPI-M.
In his speech, Kharge while referring to Congress's poll promises in Haryana said the party has given seven guarantees in its manifesto including Rs 2,000 per month for women and told Hooda, who was standing behind him, "You will have to keep my honour".
Invoking Lal Bahadur Shastri's "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" slogan, he said the BJP doesn't "know about jawans or kisans". "They only know the RSS' agenda. No one is a farmer in the RSS or BJP. This is why they don't understand the pain of the farmers. They help people like Adani-Ambani and not farmers. They don't give MSP guarantee, but Modi waives Rs 16 lakh crore debt of the rich," he said and also criticised the Agnipath military recruitment scheme. Keep such people at bay, Kharge said.
Kharge said Modi made so many promises during the past 10 years including "putting Rs 15 lakh in everyone's bank account and giving two crore jobs to youth each year, but everyone knows the fate of these promises". The Congress president said the BJP is saying during the polls in Haryana that they will give five lakh jobs, whereas they did not fill over 1.60 lakh vacant posts.
"Manohar Lal Khattar was the chief minister for nine-and-a-half years, but he was changed. He was changed because that engine failed. Had their work been proper, had they kept their promises, what was the need to change. The fact that they changed him means they have not been able to fulfil the promises they made to people," he said.
