The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday reacted to the Congress' poll promise to double the quantity of free rations provided by the Modi government to the poor, saying Congress is making "false promises" to win the Lok Sabha elections. Earlier in the day, the main opposition party president Mallikarjun Kharge announced that if the I.N.D.I.A bloc is voted to power, it will double the quantity of free rations provided by the government to the poor.
"Kharge is lying," said Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, asserting, "They want to come to power by making false promises. The people will not forgive them and believe in what they say."
"I come from Rajasthan. They made a false promise of waiving off the farmers' loans. They made false promises in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka as well," he charged.
"The Supreme Court had asked the Manmohan Singh government to distribute food grains, which were rotting at the FCI (godowns), among the poor people. Kharge was also a minister at that time. Then you (Congress government) said who is the Supreme Court to direct us," the BJP leader added.
Kharge, while addressing a joint press conference with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, announced that the I.N.D.I.A bloc will double the quantity of free rations provided by the BJP government to the poor if voted to power.
The Congress president referred to the Modi government's scheme providing five kilograms of ration to the poor every month and said, "The Congress brought the Food Security Act, you (Modi government) did nothing."
"You are giving five kg. If I.N.D.I.A bloc government is formed, we will give 10 kg of ration to the poor," Kharge said, adding "I am saying this with guarantee because we have already done it in the states, including Telangana and Karnataka".
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