Rahul "habitual liar", people will punish Congress in LS polls, says Chouhan

New Delhi, Apr 01: former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Monday accused Congress chief Rahul Gandhi of being a "habitual liar" and asked people not to fall in his "trap" in the Lok Sabha polls, a reference to his recent promises to the poor, including the minimum income scheme.

BJP vice president Shivraj Singh Chouhan claimed Congress governments in states like Madhya Pradesh have "cheated" farmers by not fulfilling their promise of waiving agriculture loans.

There was no immediate response from the Congress to the BJP's attack on its president.

Chouhan told reporters Gandhi had claimed that the Congress will waive farmers' loans within 10 days of coming to power in Madhya Pradesh but, he said, it had not been done even after 104 days of Kamal Nath taking over as chief minister.

He played two video clips of Gandhi, first purportedly showing him making the promise and second in which he is heard saying that the state government has fulfilled it.

"Gandhi speaks lies with confidence and shamelessly. He is a habitual liar," he claimed.

Lakhs of farmers recently received a state government message telling them that the loan waiver exercise was put on hold due to the Model Code of Conduct that came into effect after the general election announcement, he claimed.

It seems Kamal Nath had been waiting for the poll announcement so that he could get rid of this promise, he said taking a swipe at the state government.

Chouhan asserted that the MCC is not applicable on ongoing schemes and as such the government could have gone ahead with it if it wanted.

What the state government has actually done is "cheat" farmers, he alleged, adding that against Rs 48,000 crore required for the loan waiver it has only allocated Rs 5000 crore in budget, out of which merely Rs 1300 crore has been given to cooperative and other banks.

Farmers in other states like Rajasthan and Karnataka, where the Congress has come to power, are also feeling "cheated", he claimed.

Referring to Gandhi's promise of minimum income scheme for poor families, he said people should not fall in his "trap" and asserted that voters will teach the Congress a lesson in the Lok Sabha polls.

"The Congress will be punished for its lies in the Lok Sabha polls," he said.

Congress lawmaker BK Hariprasad will be the opposition's candidate for the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson, sources said today.

Several opposition parties, who have joined hands against the BJP, decided to field a joint candidate to take on the NDA nominee, Harivansh Narayan Singh of the Janata Dal (United), for the August 9 election.

PTI