Politics, as, they say is the art of impossible and politicians are experts in ‘promising the moon even in the afternoon’. In Goa assembly last year, the Congress party manifesto, literally promised to build a bridge on a river in the constituency of GPCC President Subhash Shirodkar where there was no river existing. !! That led to a huge howler from all over and political pundits kept wondering if the 126 year old Congress party had become so redundant and irrelevant in the state that its Manifesto writing experts could not even be factually correct. !!
In karnataka, all major political parties except Congress have already announced their manifesto and each party is trying to outwit the other with a plethora of promises and commitments which would be too difficult to implement. But then, that is what they have been doing.
The most interesting manifesto is that of Badavara, Shramikara, Raitahara Congress(BSR) Congress founded by former health Minister Sriramalu which has made the promise of ” inclusive development” as its credo. Its manifesto promises to drop Bangalore centric model of development and would focus on other parts of Karnataka if voted to power.
BSR Congress manifesto also promises payment of scholarship of Rs 500 per month for poor students from Class I to Class Ixth and Rs 1000 per month for students pursuing graduate and post- graduate courses. It also talks of setting up “Steve Jobs Engineering grooming schools’ to enhance the employability of engineering students and “ Dr Ambdekar Advocates Finishing schools “to set up in Belgaum and Shimoga to impart professional skills to law graduates. It also promises to transform Lokayukta into an independent institution without any political interference by bringing suitable amendment to relevant law.
BSR Congress manifesto also promises to set up super speciality hospitals in every district with private participation and extending compulsory rural service to medical students admitted under payment and management quotas. It further promises to bring globalization to rural karnataka and make efforts to revive agro-based industries in Gadag, Hubli , Ranebennur and Davangare and ensure that fruits of research work in agricultural universities are available to farmers.
On the other hand, if elections are won on the basis of promises made in the Manifesto, then Karnataka Janata Party(KJP) led by former Chief Minister BS yediurappa should win hands down as the party has taken care to woo almost all sections ranging from farmers, weavers, fishermen, women middle classes, all categories of aged persons to Muslims and Christians with attractive promises. It is a different matter that KJP would have to first win and come to power on its own before it gets down to implementing its electoral agenda and promises.
The KJP promises to waive all crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh and offer monthly pension of Rs 500 to all farmers above 65 years of age. It also promises free electricity to irrigation pump sets of all farmers and completion of all irrigation projects in the next five years in the state.
The KJP Manifesto also talks of Rs 2000 crore for Muslims and Rs 250 crores for Christians apart from extension of Bhagyalaxmi and Sandhya Suraksha schemes. Another major promise of the KJP is the establishment of women cooperatives bank and setting aside a budget of Rs 2000 crores for that so that women are granted loans at the rate of one percent interest rate.
Besides providing potable drinking water and building toilets in all villages, the KJP manifesto promises the generation of 5000 MW of power to remove power shortage in the agriculture sector,. It is a different matter that Yediurappa as the Chief Minister could not help even in generating 10 MW power either from thermal or hydro power projects.
KJP Manifesto, apart from talking about implementing Nayanthara scheme, promises the redressal of all regional imbalance in the next five years.
The Janata Dal(S) Manifesto, as expected, bears the stamp of being farmer-centric budget. Farmers are the main concern for Deve Gowda and his son HD Kumaraswamy and the JDS) manifesto promises to waive all loans availed by farmers, weavers, fishermen and artisans.
JD(S) election document says that state subsidy would be given on fertilizers while seeds and tractors would get 75 percent subsidy. It promises to set aside Rs 65000 crore for irrigating 10 lakh acres in the next five years. It further promises introduction of pension schemes for farmers, agricultural labourers and payment of Rs 5000 over 12 months to pregnant women to prevent malnutrition.
JD(S) manifesto pleads for payment of Rs 5000 and Rs 8000 for those above 70 years and 80 years of age respectively while patients undergoing dialysis would get Rs 6000 per month.
It also promises to introduce English medium from 5th Standard in all government schools apart from setting up of seven universities for skill training of the youth. Further, it would like to implement Justice Sachar committee report and distribute 35000 sites in Bangalore every year.
The BJP manifesto which was expected to be a bunch of goodies and attractive incentives appears to have turned out to be a rather damp squib. Its manifesto talks of Five kg of rice at the rate of Re 1 per kg for all poor families and free laptops/tablets to pre-university level and graduate students. It also promises pure drinking water to all citizens, 24X7 uninterrupted power supply and project to teach good and correct English in Kannada medium schools.
The BJP manifesto also promises 50 percent reservation of seats for women in local bodies and eradication of child labour apart from priority for Kannada medium students in higher education and employment, free Wi-Fi and internet for all schools and colleges.
A novel feature of BJP manifesto is the introduction of Yoga as part of the syllabus in schools and colleges.
However, the voters of karanataka are yet to see the Congress manifesto even as it has functioned as the principal opposition party in the State. The manifesto preparation process is supposed to have run into trouble because of the shifting of the goal post as well as the goal keeper on more than two occasions.
The Chief warriors of the Congress think tank including BL Shankar, Prof BK Chandrashekhar and Sr Ramesh kumar who is also the Chairman of the State Manifesto committee, have embarrassed the party as well as the KPCC president after they got the party nomination.
Then, this task was entrusted to Prof KE Radhakrishna from Seshadripuram College (who is also the official biographer of HD Deve Gowda) who kept dilly-dallying for days together. Then, the responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of a retired IAS officer Zameer Pasha who is trying his best to bring something out and have the Congress manifesto released at least by 24th April.
In any case, the Congress party has been more concerned about the preparation of Charge-sheet against non-congress government in States than actually bothering about the party manifesto since 2004. That is clear from the example of Bihar Assembly polls of 2010 when the AICC General Secretary- in Charge Mukul Wasnik went to Patna to release the party manifesto on the day of the Second phase of polling and got roughed up by his own party workers. The Congress could manage only 4 out of the total of 243 seats in Bihar.
In Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls of 2012, the Congress was the last party to ‘unleash its innovative manifesto” through PM’s Advisor Mr Sam Pitroda who flaunted his credentials as the’ son of a Carpenter” and tried to play the Dalit card. Yet the Congress could manage to win only 28 out of the total of 403 seats.
The Congress party’s release of Goa manifesto was all the more interesting because the honours were done by Oscar Fernandes and his wife Blossom Fernandes together and the Goan media made a big issue out of it questioning the bonafides of Blossom Fernandes who was not even AICC Member and yet had been given this onerous responsibility as if there were no other senior Congress party left.
Perhaps the Congress party in Karnataka is more concerned about the visit of PM, Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi to the State than whacking its head on this document which people hardly read and reacts. A senior Congress leader said sarcastically in Bangalore “ we always have the problem of plenty. We had a 63 member State election committee. We had four different team of experts to make party manifesto so far and hopefully, we would cross that bridge within 2/3 days as well”.
One only wishes that these leaders knew that” if wishes were horses , then every beggar would have become a Wodeyaar”. (posted on April 23, 2013 @ 7.16 am)
(Ajay Jha is a Commentator and Independent Writer and Analyst on Politics, security and Economy of South And West Asia. His email id is: Ajay N Jha <ajayjha30@gmail.com>)
