Gujarat polls: Arun Jaitley finds 3 major faults with Congress' campaign

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday found three major faults in the Congress Party's campaigning in Gujarat.

Pointing out the first fault, Jaitley wrote on his blog that the first distinct aspect of the Congress Party's campaign is that it has clearly demolished its own state-level leadership and outsourced both its leadership and issues to those who had conventionally nothing to do with the party.

"There is not a single State leader who is touring the State for the campaign. The Party has disconnected the traditional issues on which it has been campaigning since 2002 and opted for a divisive agenda of social repolarisation. The State paid a heavy price for such mis-adventures in the 1980s and would be very reluctant to repeat this experiment after having liberated itself from caste wars," Jaitley said.

Finding the second fault, the Union Finance Minister said that the party denied that there is a Gujarat Model of development.

"The second limb of the Congress campaign has been that the Gujarat model of development does not exist. This claim has been conclusively demolished by the recent data that Gujarat is the only State in India whose GSDP grew by 10 percent during the period 2012-2017. Gujarat grew at least two percent faster than the nearest growing State i.e. Madhya Pradesh," Jaitley said.

He further noted that a double digit growth rate in Gujarat is unheard during the period of economic downturn.

"Even the Chinese new normal during this period has been 6.5 percent. A seven percent plus growth rate made India the fastest growing among the major economies for three years. For a large State to grow at 10 percent is unprecedented. The fact that this growth rate has been sustained for five years in a row is an evidence of the success of the Gujarat model, which the Congress wants to wish away," the Union Finance Minister said.

Further training guns at the Congress Party, Jaitley said it has promised over and above 49 percent reservation that is not permissible legally.

"The next important limp of the Congress campaign is a promise of reservations over and above 49 percent. The Supreme Court, since 1992, has repeatedly reemphasised that the net total of all reservations cannot exceed 50 percent. States which have attempted to breach this cap have faced constitutional resistance. A promise of reservations beyond 50 percent has been made by the Congress and the PAAS to the people of Gujarat. This act of self-deception is a constitutional impossibility - which will never be judicially permissible," Jaitley said.

He also found fault with the Congress' manifesto for Gujarat.

"Having no model of development, the Congress Party manifesto is one of fiscal impossibility. The total revenue earned by the State is about Rs.90,000 crore per annum. The Congress promises a tax waiver of Rs.20,000 crore. This will bring down the effective revenue income of State to Rs.70,000 crores. To this may be added the Central devolution and the borrowings which under the FRBM Act have a three percent cap. All these constitute the committed liabilities of salaries, pensions, social and developmental expenditure. There is no surplus money left after this committed expenditure," Jaitley said.

The Union Finance Minister further wrote that the Congress' manifesto comprised of two important limbs - a constitutional impossibility and a fiscal impossibility.

"The Congress manifesto promises an additional bonanza of Rs.1,21,000 crores in terms of populist programmes. It doubles the expenditure while reducing the income, which is a fiscal nightmare. Even a fiscal miracle does not permit this. The two important limbs of the Congress manifesto comprise of one - a constitutional impossibility and the other - a fiscal impossibility," Jaitley said.

He concluded by saying that the Congress Party can well afford this risk since its victory is a political improbability.

Voting for the first phase of assembly elections in 89 constituencies was conducted on Saturday.

The second phase will be held on December 14 for 93 assembly constituencies. Counting of votes and the results would be announced together on December 18.