Congress takes cue from AAP, promises grants for Gujarat farmers

Imitating the poll campaign strategies of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announcing freebies to garner votes in the upcoming Gujarat elections, the Indian National Congress on Friday announced several doles for farmers. These grants included free electricity for 10 hours every day, monetary relief to cattle-rearing families in case of calamities such as lumpy disease, and waiving off debts up to Rs 3 lakh, among others.

Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor announced the doles at a press conference, targeting the agrarian community where the party is still considered a challenge for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

But, unlike the 2017 election, when the Congress had a momentum in the background of simmering anti BJP sentiments due to the Patidar agitation for reservation, this time around the party’s prospects were said to be dull.

Over the past couple of months, the party suffered major blows in the form of defections to the BJP, which included its working president and Patidar leader Hardik Patel, and three-time tribal MLA Ashwin Kotwal. Last month, the party also suffered when seven of its MLAs cross-voted for BJP presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu. This triggered a fresh round of defections.

The party also got mired in a fresh round of controversy following Thakor’s remarks that minority community members had the first right over the government’s welfare schemes. Following this, Bajrang Dal activists defaced posters of Congress leaders at the party’s headquarters in Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan. The activists “renamed” the Congress office as “Haj House”.

Meanwhile, AAP’s national joint general secretary Isudan Gadhvi, in a statement, criticised Congress’s announcements and called them “false promises”.

“What had stopped the Congress to bring such relief to people for so long? No one will be (for) Congress. The party hasn’t announced anything like this in the state it is ruling. As far as AAP is concerned, the party has already started implementing the schemes in Punjab three months after coming to power,” he said.

AAP, since winning Punjab, was aggressive in its campaign in the state. The party’s national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal visited Gujarat frequently and made “guaranteed” promises of providing 300 units of free electricity, Rs 3,000 unemployment benefit, Rs 1,000 monthly allowances for women above 18 and free pilgrimage for senior citizens. Besides, Kejriwal also promised to improve the quality of government-run schools and hospitals.