Let any party come to power, it will turn Karnataka into a heaven. No poor in the state will have to earn his bread. No poor has to spend money on his education. No farmer has to repay the loan he has raised.

What else you need to lead a blissful life? Wondering how a heaven can be created? Read election manifestos of major political parties. All needs to be done by parties is just implement poll promises.

The last two weeks all political parties released their election manifestos. With promises galore, one common promise which no party could resist making is distribution of rice at highly subsidised rate and free distribution of television sets for the families living below the poverty line.

The JD(S) goes to the extent of promising free gas cylinders and stoves to the poor, while the Congress wants to distribute 25 kg grains at the rate of Rs 2. The BJP promises everything on earth. Even the Samajawadi Party has promised moon to the voters.

The JD(S) wants to develop Bangalore on the lines of Beijing. It appears like a guinea pig, ready to be butchered for various experiments. S M Krishna wished to see it as Singapore when he was chief minister. Now another dream merchant, former Prime Minister Deve Gowda, is dreaming Beijing in Bangalore. But there is a dragon behind Beijing. A top bureaucrat commented, “Beijing has toll roads”.

There is a need to take the dream ideas casually. Kumaraswamy — in 20 months of his rule— hardly conducted any meeting to review the pace of development in the capital. No expressway was planned to the International Airport or a push was given to the metro rail work.

The BJP too enjoyed power. Yeddyurappa could not ensure piped water or even clean drinking water to villages. Now, his party is promising piped gas supply to houses. Can anyone take such promises seriously?

A good number of poll promises made by the parties involve revenue expenditure, while some are policy decisions. In Tamil Nadu, the DMK’s election manifesto became the hero of the 2006 election. While Jayalalitha sought votes projecting her achievements, Karunanidhi offered freebies like colour TV sets and rice for Rs 2.
Karunanidhi provided 14-inch colour TV sets to the poor. But many households have power connection, only for lighting a bulb! Karnataka politicians are blindly following Karunanidhi.

No party discusses about getting more funds from the Centre under the JNNURM for urban development.
On November 10, 2005, the then President Abdul Kalam — addressing the state legislators on the occasion of Golden Jubilee of the state formation — presented his 11 point vision for development of Karnataka. It has just remained a document. Yeddyurappa, in his budget document, had just made one reference to Kalam’s document.
No politician talks of using human resources for development, creating job opportunities and producing entrepreneurs. No one is committed to emphasise on research and development, encourage study of science and humanities and create assets for the state.

Voters have no choice, but to select the best among the worst.