NEW DELHI: Its Uttar Pradesh prospects in a quandary, the Congress on Monday seemed to put all its hope behind the Punjab polls with the release of a please-all manifesto by former prime minister Manmohan Singh.
The sardar card was in full play, as the Congress promised everything from a farm loan waiver to free power, smartphones, textbooks and doles to be in striking distancing of power, lost to the Akali-BJP combine 10 years ago.
Throwing his reform legacy out of the window, Manmohan unveiled a manifesto that promised a bag full of freebies. This, even as he extolled the virtues of an economic development model that could bring Punjab out of its current morass, the debt burden.
Singh charged the Akali-BJP of “misgovernance “ and offered Capt Amarinder Singh as the answer to all ills. Captain’s leadership, Singh said “is badly needed” by Punjab. “The challenge before Punjab is to rise above all this din and recognise that the people need a better tomorrow.
This election manifesto is a forward-looking visionary document that will undo the damage done to the Punjab economy by the state government in the last 10 years,” he said. With Badals — the ruling clan of Punjab — being aided Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s famed election speeches, and the AAP biting at its votebank, it’s not business as ususal for the Congress. The party is trying every trick under its sleeves to clinch the polls in its favour.
The former prime minister was brought in for some extra heft to the manifesto release. Singh said Punjab, which was hit by terrorism first, suffered a double whammy when the fiscal situation was ruined by the Akalis.
Amarinder, he claimed, ‘’will undo all this damage’’...with ‘’higher per capita income, better wealth distribution, better employment prospects and better infrastructure.”
On his part, Amarinder Singh announced that the state would generate as many as 25 lakh jobs within the next five years to provide employment to all youth in the state. The Caption also promised to crack down on drugs and corruption, and bring a new industrial policy within 90 days, besides promising an end to the VIP culture, bring sweeping economic reforms and total transparency in governance. He also promised free houses to homeless Dalits/SCs/OBCs and one job for every family.