Former finance minister P Chidambaram slammed both PM Modi and the Election Commission for delaying the Gujarat poll dates and alleged it was helping the state government announce more sops.
“EC has authorised PM to announce date of Gujarat elections at his last rally (and kindly keep EC informed). EC will be recalled from its extended holiday after Gujarat government has announced all concessions and freebies,” Chidambaram tweeted.
The Congress is miffed that the poll panel did not announce the schedule for Gujarat while declaring November 9 as polling day in Himachal Pradesh on October 12. Earlier the opposition party had expressed apprehension that PM Modi would announce sops at his Gujarat rally on October 16 but that did not happen.
Announcing the HP poll date, the EC had said it would hold Gujarat polls before December 18, when the result for hill state would be out, but the Congress remained suspicious.
The Gujarat government has announced welfare measures worth thousands of crore recently indicating it was trying to make the most of the small window available to it before the EC comes out with the poll schedule.
“That shows the BJP’s desperation in Gujarat,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, adding any delay in announcing the poll scheduled disturbs the level playing field.
“We are ready to face the elections anytime,” Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki said.
The BJP has argued that there has been a gap between poll dates in Himachal and Gujarat earlier also when the Congress ruled the centre.