Subsidies, jobs to top Cong poll promises

NEW DELHI: The Congress plans to use a common template for the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections that includes subsidised or free services in the health care, farm and electricity sectors and more government jobs, party leaders said on Thursday, but party insiders admitted that defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its stronghold of Gujarat will be an uphill task.

The Congress — which has alleged non-performance of the incumbent BJP governments in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in its poll campaign — faces the prospect of a new challenger in the form of the Aam Aadmi Party.

Minutes before the Gujarat poll schedule was released on Thursday, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge announced 10 promises by the party.

“LPG cylinder for ₹500, free electricity for up to 300 units, free treatment and medicines up to ₹10 lakhs, loan waiver for up to ₹3 lakh for farmers,” Kharge said in Delhi.

“Seven crore Gujarati sisters and brothers consider only the Congress as an option for change.”

The Congress posted its best result in 27 years during the 2017 assembly elections, winning 77 seats and restricting the BJP to under 100. But a raft of issues that helped the party — anger among farmers and traders and the Patidar agitation for reservations — don’t exist this time. The party is in talks with potential allies and promised an aggressive campaign but admitted that the AAP’s presence made things unpredictable.

“Aam Aadmi Party and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen are the B team of the BJP. Their job is only to cut votes, but I don’t know whose vote they will cut,” said Congress party’s Gujarat in-charge, Raghu Sharma.

Sharma said the party will create four “charge sheets” against the Gujarat government and corner it over the collapse of a Britishera bridge at Morbi that claimed 135 lives. “We want to know who authorised this repair work?” said Congress leader Pawan Khera.

Party leaders, however, admitted that defeating the BJP will be an uphill task. “In the last polls, we were able to keep the BJP under 100. Our realistic estimate can be to further diminish BJP numbers,” said a senior Congress leader.