Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley attacked the Congress campaign in Gujarat, saying its manifesto comprised the “myths” of a constitutional and a fiscal impossibility.
In a Facebook post, he referred to the promise of reservation made by the Congress to the Patidar community and the ₹1,21,00 crore required to meet some of the expenditure that the promises, including a farm loan waiver of ₹20,000 crore, entailed.
“The two important limbs of the Congress manifesto comprise one, a constitutional impossibility, and the other, a fiscal impossibility. The Congress can well afford this risk since its victory is a political improbability,” Mr. Jaitley said.
He dismissed the Congress campaign as disconnected from the ground realities, claiming it had sidelined its own State-level leadership. He said it had outsourced its prerogative to people who had “nothing to do with the party”.
This was a specific reference to the Congress drawing support from Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor, who joined the Congress, and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, who is fighting as an Independent with Congress support from Vadgam. All three young leaders have taken strident anti-BJP stances.
“The party has disconnected from the traditional issues on which it has been campaigning since 2002 and opted for a divisive agenda of social re-polarisation. The State paid a heavy price for such misadventures in the 1980s and would be very reluctant to repeat this experiment after having liberated itself from caste wars,” Mr. Jaitley said.“A promise of reservations beyond 50% has been made by the Congress and the PAAS to the people of Gujarat. This act of self-deception is a constitutional impossibility,” he added.
