Rajasthan Assembly Polls 2018: Congress does not want to contest on real issues, says Arjun Ram Meghwal

Ridiculing the Congress for its stand on Rafale and demonetisation, Arjun Ram Meghwal, co-conveyor of BJP for Rajasthan election management committee and MoS for Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resource, exuded confidence in his party's strategy of using the development plank for the upcoming polls.

"We want to contest on the basis of development and good governance as seen in the last five years. But Congress does not want to contest on real issues since they also know that in the BJP regime, development is in high swing,” he told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interaction.

Meghwal took potshots at Congress' strategy leading up to the polls and pilloried them for their lack of vision. He also denounced theories of demonetisation being a failure.

"We are ready to debate on development issue with figures. I want to ask Congress how many houses they have built in Indira Awas Yojana or how many electric poles were established in Rajiv Gandhi Divya Jyoti Yojana compared to our Deen Dayal Uphadhaya Gram Jyoti Yojana. Also, how much benefit did Congress give in direct benefit transfer?”

“Congress doesn’t have any poll related issues and that is why they are creating a ruckus by spreading false rumours about the Rafale deal, demonetisation or GST. We have won polls after demonetisation and that proves it was not a failure. We have seen spurt in income tax collection and there’s been a crackdown on parallel economy. If revenue collection goes up, that money will go to state for improving infrastructure and will ultimately benefit the common man."

But there have been reports that the common man is not convinced with the government's development stories? Meghwal refuted such theories and said it is the Opposition which has created this ‘wrong perception’.

He informed that BJP will soon announce the first list of candidates and the Parliamentary board may meet on November 11 or 12 to take a final call.

On the issue of CM candidate and party chief Amit Shah's comment that "workers should go with name of lotus and Narendra Modi and not use any individual name", Meghwal said: "Lotus is our party sign and Narendra Modi is out tallest leader of the party. So Shah was referring in that sense".

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