‘General category quota will get NDA 10% more votes’

NEW DELHI: The measure for 10 per cent general category quota will boost the BJP-led NDA’s vote share by 10 per cent, paving the way for Narendra Modi’s re-election as prime minister, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said Sunday, asserting that people will reject the opposition’s proposed grand alliance due to its inherent contradiction and instability.

The BJP ally and Lok Janshakti Party president said the Modi government’s priority to long-term development policies over “populist” programmes may have caused at times some resentment in a section of society but people will vote for the prime minister’s “strong and stable” leadership in Lok Sabha elections.

He, however, hinted that the government will come out with a bevy of schemes in the run up to the election, saying that the ruling alliance has learnt its lessons from its loss in the recent state elections and that there are many arrows in the quiver of Prime Minister Modi.

“Some months are still left for the polls. The government will shoot one arrow after another. What will also weigh the most on people’s mind is who will be the opposition’s choice as prime minister.

Whether the next government will be stable or temporary. People will prefer a strong, stable government to a weak, unstable government, leading to Modi’s victory,” he told PTI in an interview.

He also sounded upbeat about the political fallout of the constitutional amendment to give 10 per cent reservation in education and jobs for the general category poor.

“Let me tell you. This 10 per cent quota will lead to a rise of 10 per cent in our vote share,” the Dalit leader, who has long been a strong votary for quota for the general category poor, said.