The Lok Sabha elections have almost become a one-horse race and the momentum is with the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley wrote in latest blog on Saturday.
“In terms of national leadership contest for a Prime Ministerial election, it is almost becoming a one-horse race. There is nobody else measuring up to Prime Minister Modi’s level of capacity and acceptability,” he wrote.
In a comparison of the campaigns of the BJP, Congress and other parties, Jaitley said that the BJP/NDA campaign is focussed under Modi’s leadership while the Congress campaign based on “fake issues” has “cracked up”.
“The BJP/NDA campaign is focussed. It sets the agenda. There is clarity about the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi. There appears to be a strong groundswell in his favour. The campaign focuses on major achievements of the past five years, particularly relating to strengthening the poor and the middle-class, a clean Government and a special emphasis on national security.”
Jaitley also claimed that the Congress manifesto has no resonance among voters and that wherever the contest is primarily between the BJP and the Congress, the BJP is comfortably placed.
{{/usCountry}}Jaitley also claimed that the Congress manifesto has no resonance among voters and that wherever the contest is primarily between the BJP and the Congress, the BJP is comfortably placed.
{{/usCountry}}“Based on fake issues, the key thrust of what the Congress was building up in the last one year, has cracked up. They are now concentrating on a new scheme declared in their manifesto which is cutting no ice with people. The entire reliance on the members of the first family to deliver a sustainable campaign is proving to be a non-starter,” the finance minister wrote.
Also read: ‘Rent a cause campaign’: Arun Jaitley takes a jibe at Opposition
Without naming Rahul Gandhi, he said the Congress president has become a liability for the party and cited desertions by some party members to buttress that argument.
“The Congress is seeing some of its traditional bright faces deserting the party. Are these desertions only because of particular incident or do they reflect a larger disillusionment with the leadership?... If the Congress’s dynast has only an ability to deliver 44 seats or 60 seats in Parliament, what then is the incentive for conventional Congressmen to bear humiliation of subjecting themselves to a dynast? Jaitley wrote.
“Unquestionably, the present generation of dynast has become a liability rather than an asset for the Congress Party.”
He also took pot shots at the BSP, SP, RJD and the INLD and said that their poor showing in 2014 general elections showed that caste-based politics may no longer be viable.
“The changing socio-economic profile of India is no longer conducive to caste based parties perpetuating indefinitely. The sun will slowly but surely come down on that era.”
Jaitley was dismissive of regional parties as well and described their agenda as state-based and that their leaders lack national vision.
“Regional parties are putting up a fight. Their agenda is mostly State based. The national vision in their leaders is lacking. The country doesn’t trust them to form a coherent, stable and long-lasting coalition. Can a federal front be trusted with an effective management of national security? he wrote.