BHOPAL: A strong reaction from chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s promise to give monthly stipend to school children has stirred the hornet’s nest in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, reports Suchandana Gupta. At a public meeting in tribal dominated Mandla on Thursday, Priyanka had announced that if the Congress won the election, it would make school education free and offer monthly stipends ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 1,500.
“The Gandhi family cheated everyone first, now Kamal Nath is cheating them. Yesterday, the way Priyanka was made to announce promises, I saw the video,” Chouhan said, going on to allege that Nath and Congress leader Randeep Surjewala kept interjecting during her speech to get her to say that the stipend would be monthly, not annual.
“How serious are they (Congress) that realizing annual payment (of stipend) will not work, they claim it is for every month... Naa lena, naa dena, apne baap ka kya jaata hai? Hence, say ‘every month’,” CM Chouhan said on Friday, alleging that Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi were being made to lie for the sake of votes. Chouhan’s use of the ‘apne baap ka kya jaata hai’ phrase triggered a storm of criticism from the Congress.
Late Friday evening, Priyanka posted a video of Chouhan’s statement and tweeted, “We are talking about education and children, but the people who are trying to divert public attention understand something else. Shivraj ji, goodpeople respect their elders. There is no dictatorship in Congress where its own leaders are not named or heard.”