E-Paper
Congress ‘copied’ AAP's manifesto, won Karnataka poll: Arvind Kejriwal's jibe
Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the Congress had borrowed poll guarantees from their manifesto and secured the win in the Karnataka election.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday took a swipe at the Congress for copying the Aam Aadmi Party’s pre-poll promises in the Karnataka assembly election. He claimed that the reason for the Congress's resounding win could be attributed to the AAP’s manifesto.
Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said, “The Aam Aadmi Party has tried to change the entire narrative of politics in the country. If you see, the Congress has won the Karnataka election on our (AAP) manifesto.”
The AAP chief made the comments on a day he met with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and appealled for the opposition unity to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha election amid the ongoing tussle over the Centre’s ordinance overturning the Supreme Court verdict on control of ‘services’.
A comparison between AAP and Congress's poll promises in Karnataka
While the AAP had released its list of guarantees on March 30, the Congress released its manifesto on May 2. The AAP focused mainly on 10 announcements, which included 300 units of free electricity per month, 80 per cent reservation to locals in jobs, 33 per cent reservation to women in government jobs and free city bus rides. Every below poverty line woman above 18 years would also be entitled to ₹1,000 per month as “empowerment allowance”, if the AAP was voted to power.
In comparison, the Congress also mainly targeted women and youth. Notably, Siddaramaiah's new cabinet featured no women ministers.
The five main pillars on which the party campaigned were - 200 units of free power to each household, ₹2,000 to each woman head of the family under the Gruha Lakshmi project, a sum of ₹3,000 for two years to unemployed graduates and ₹1,500 to unemployed diploma holders every month for two years (in the 18-25 age group); and Shakti, free travel for women in ordinary public transport buses across the state.
In the agriculture sector, the Congress had proposed Krishi Sarvodaya Nidhi, under which it will allocate ₹1.50 lakh crore in five years for modernisation, subsidy, loan and insurance. Along with high-speed Wi-Fi hotspots in every village panchayat, the party promised to invest ₹50,000 crore in five years to improve drinking water, sanitation, basic education, health and all-weather roads in villages.
The AAP had promised to bring in the MSP based on the Swaminathan Committee report, 12-hour free power and free health care services, Delhi-model mohalla clinics in every locality, and doorstep delivery of ration and government services.
Despite the similarity in manifestos, the AAP, which received the national party tag recently, and had fielded 208 candidates, failed to open its account in the state.
The Congress registered a thumping victory in the May 10 poll after winning 135 seats in the 224-member assembly.
