Karnataka Poll: Verdict stings BJP’s development claims; Congress guarantees score high

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, May 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi had latched on to the ‘Jai Bajrang Bali’ campaign in Karnataka Assembly elections, as he stepped his electioneering in the state. On the sidelines, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sweated out to counter the five guarantees of Congress.

“We could not counter the guarantees of Congress,” said a BJP functionary from Karnataka, while reflecting on the loss of the party in the Assembly election. Congress was cruising with leads on over 130 Assembly seats, marching ahead to hand over one of the worst defeats to the BJP in Karnataka.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had announced the five guarantees on the campaign trail. Unemployment allowances for graduates (Rs 3000 per month for two years), diploma holders (Rs 1500 per month for two years), Rs 2000 per month to women, 200 units free electricity, free rides for women in buses, and 10 kg free rice per month formed the bouquet of guarantees of Congress.

The BJP claimed that Karnataka had one of the lowest unemployment rate in the country at 4.2 per cent, while the state had one of the highest per capita income in the country, having seen steepest gains in the recent years to touch Rs 3 lakh per annum mark. The national unemployment rate is stated to be 7.1 per cent. But statistics on unemployment and any other social and economic indicators are not centrally collected.

With Congress’ guarantees in Karnataka, which the party has stated that they would be implemented in the very first Cabinet meeting, swaying the poll outcome, the Modi model of development has come under scrutiny. Congress also swept Bengaluru region, which has a total of 25 Assembly seats and also known to have the largest concentration of the middle class population. Congress leaders have maintained that the price rise has been an issue affecting the people in Karnataka, as LPG and petrol and diesel prices are at their record highs along with food inflation being in the double digits for several months. The BJP in contrast was arguing that the people in the country don’t want freebies, which was demonstrated in Gujarat where the saffron outfit won with over two-third majority despite fulsome promises of dole outs by the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress. The BJP had been counting Congress’ victory in Himachal Pradesh where the party had also unveiled a slew of entitlement guarantees as freak due to narrow vote difference polled by the two parties.