BJP trashes Akhilesh's pro-farmer claims

Lucknow: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday lashed out at the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) government in Uttar Pradesh for trying to fool the state's people through a "false propaganda machinery".

Referring to an advertisement in local dailies, in which the state government claims to be "working  expeditiously" for the welfare of farmers, BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak billed these as "white lies".
"At a time when more than thousand farmers have died in the state owing to the unseasonal rainfall, and are suffering due to the apathy of the government machinery, how can Akhilesh Yadav so blatantly lie," Pathak asked.
He also presented some statistics to show that the compensation to farmers in the aftermath of unseasonal rainfall and hailstorm has been tardy and inadequate.
"This is like rubbing salt on the farmers' wounds," he said.  
Referring to a statistical claim by the Uttar Pradesh government in an advertisement of compensation of Rs.seven lakh in case of farmer deaths, Pathak said the ad sounded more like a sham, as the ground realities speak otherwise.
"Farmers are getting cheques of 50, 100 and 200 rupees. At many places, the cheques are bouncing and the government has the gutso of bringing out such advertisements," Pathak said.
The BJP leader also accused the state government of "fudging facts, misinforming the central government and trying to mislead the farmers".