In 2019, it’s a pro-incumbency election: Jaitley

Jaitley said he doubted the opposition party’s commitment to removing poverty. “In its 2009 manifesto, Congress had promised that it will bring an income support system. They had promised a slum-free India. Can we believe what they say?...I think it is an eyewash and a bluff scheme,” Jaitley said.

The fact that opposition parties, which were traditional rivals, had to come together to take on the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is a sign that 2019 is a “pro-incumbency” election, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has said, expressing confidence that BJP would put up an improved performance in the upcoming polls.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely said the government was already giving nearly one-and-half times of what the Congress had promised to strengthen poor section. (HT FILE PHOTO)

“Every government fights anti-incumbency. But in 2019, we are in a situation that our rivals, who are opponents of each other, are saying that ‘get together because this man and this party cannot be fought alone’. Now is this an anti-incumbency based election? After years, there is a pro-incumbency election,” Jaitley said in an interview to Rajya Sabha TV.

The choice before the country is whether it wants a Modi-led government with NDA parties or a “non-existent, chaotic” coalition that has its own internal “bickering”. Asked about the Congress’s recently announced income guarantee scheme, Jaitley said he doubted the opposition party’s commitment to removing poverty. “In its 2009 manifesto, Congress had promised that it will bring an income support system. They had promised a slum-free India. Can we believe what they say?...I think it is an eyewash and a bluff scheme,” Jaitley said. He said the government was already giving nearly one-and-half times of what the Congress had promised.