The Congress has been in power in the state for
six months. That causes a slight problem in the campaign in the
Gurdaspur Lok Sabha byelection. It can no more get away with Akali
bashing. Forced to present its “achievements”, the party campaigners are
making do with recycling promises from the Assembly poll as there is
little to show for delivery.
From promising to waive farm loans, Punjab Congress leaders have now
graduated to promising “early loan waiver”, even as notification of the
scheme is pending. Addressing gatherings ahead of the October 11
election, party leaders are asking farmers to prepare lists of potential
beneficiaries to facilitate the scheme.
Defending the strategy, PPCC chief and Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar
said the government was committed to waiving crop loans, benefitting 10
lakh small and marginal farmers. “It is just a matter of time,” he said.
However, other achievements the party is peddling are also at the stage
of “decisions”. Prominent among these are the decision to enact a new
Lokpal law; freezing of power tariff at Rs5 per unit for industry; and
cancelling of all bus permits issued after 1991. The fact is that the
Lokpal Bill is still at the draft stage; power rates are yet to be
notified; and the bus permits can be cancelled only after a new
transport policy is notified.
On why the Congress has been unable to deliver on the promises, the
party blames the Centre. The government has demanded relaxation of the
Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003, to enhance the
state’s borrowing limit to enable it to meet the debt waiver commitment.
The party is also exploiting the anger among the influential trading
community of Gurdaspur and Pathankot over the chaotic implementation of
the GST “Parliamentary elections are contested on national issues. And
GST is a local as well as national issue,” Jakhar said.
BJP leader Madan Mohan Mittal said, “The government has no money for the loan waiver. It is unfairly blaming the Centre for it.”
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