Congress' Gujarat manifesto one of 'fiscal impossibility': Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday slammed the Congress party's Gujarat poll manifesto as one of "fiscal impossibility" and its hope of winning as a "political improbability".

"Having no model of development, the Congress Party manifesto is one of fiscal impossibility," Jaitley said.

Jaitley in a Facebook post said the total revenue earned by Gujarat is about Rs 90,000 crore per annum. The Congress promises a tax waiver of Rs 20,000 crore, which will bring down the effective revenue income of the state to Rs 70,000 crore.

He said there would be "no surplus money left" after the committed expenditure like salaries, pensions, social and developmental expenditure.

"The Congress manifesto promises an additional bonanza of Rs 1,21,000 crore in terms of populist programmes... The Congress Party can well afford this risk since its victory is a political improbability," he said.

Jaitley also said that the Congress has demolished its own state-level leaderships and "outsourced both its leadership and issues to those who had conventionally nothing to do with the Congress Party".

"There is not a single state leader who is touring the state for the campaign.

He also accused Congress of opting for a "divisive agenda of social repolarisation".

His comments come as Gujarat was holding its first phase of polls on Saturday.

--IANS

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