On December 3, election results will not only declare the next government in five key states but also reveal the impact of a slew of welfare measures announced by political parties to clinch victories.
At a Moneycontrol roundtable of experts on December 1, Amit Malviya, in charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national Information & Technology department, while weighing in on the politics of ‘freebies’ said that the BJP government does not need to give up on fiscal prudence to win elections.
“The targeted subsidy that the Modi government has been rolling out for the last 10 years has reached the intended beneficiaries without compromising the financial health of the country,” Malviya said, adding that the Congress party, in its desperation to win elections, is banking on ill-targeted ‘freebies’.
Amitabh Dubey, in charge of research and monitoring for Congress’ communication department, on the other hand, said that the grand old party is just responding to the situation since there is a need for welfare measures, given the gap in demand-side steps from the central government led by BJP.
“Modi-government policies for the last few years have been very supply-side-oriented, and there has been a shortcoming on the demand side. The fact that the Congress party is seeing traction through the six guarantees in Telangana and the five guarantees in Karnataka is evidence of this huge gap," Dubey said.
While Malviya accused the Congress of funding consumption to garner votes, Dubey said that Congress governments in the states have been able to strike a balance between welfarism and budget.
The varied exit polls, released on November 30, have mostly not predicted a clear winner in any poll-bound state. While in Rajasthan, most are predicting a BJP victory, the verdict for Madhya Pradesh is split. In Chhattisgarh, there seems to be consensus over a Congress victory, while in Telangana, the grand old party may cause a big upset by defeating the current BRS-led government.
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