Senior State-level Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have reacted sharply to the Congress party’s poll manifesto released here on Monday. Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh said the Congress manifesto is merely a ‘poll manifesto’. BJP State president Ramsevak Paikra termed the manifesto as a ‘bag of lies’. “It is an old habit of the Congress party to make false promises to the people,” he said in a statement issued here.
Paikra said that the people now understand the Congress designs and would not fall into its trap this time round. “Only 20 per cent of the promises made by the Congress party nationally made in its manifestos since the time of country’s Independence had been fulfilled by the party while rest had been thrown into the dustbin,” he said.
One of the prime examples of not keeping its promises had been that the Congress party could not bring down the rising prices within 100 days of assuming power as it had promised, Paikra said.
PWD Minister Brijmohan Agrawal remarked: “The Congress party makes a large number of promises but it knows that it is impossible for it to get back to power. This is the very reason the Congress party does not hold itself back in making empty promises.”
“The Congress manifesto says the support price for paddy would be fixed at `2,000 which is in fact decided by the Centre. They promised the support price without taking permission from Centre,” he said.
Agrawal said that the ruling BJP Government paid bonus amounting to crores of rupees to the farmers while suicides are being committed by the farmers in Congress-ruled States of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Water Resources Minister Ramvichar Netam said that the BJP does not come out with a poll manifesto having a bag of lies such as that of the Congress party.
State BJP Spokesperson Sachchidanand Upasane said that the Congress party is trying to cheat through its poll manifesto. However, the people of Chhattisgarh are wiser now and they will not fall into the lure of tall promises being made by the party.