Uttar Pradesh govt turns on the handout tap ahead of Assembly elections

The BJP still has the leeway of its manifesto, or Sankalp Patra, to add on to its pre-poll bag of goodies

The template of cash handouts and promises of financial and other support in the form of loan waivers, housing schemes, unemployment doles, etc has been frequently deployed by political parties before elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is no exception.

Presiding over his first cabinet meeting on April 4, 2017, after taking oath as Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ensured that the flagship Rs 36,000-crore crop loan waiver scheme went through.

It was among the foremost promises held out by the BJP in the run-up to the Assembly elections that year. The scheme was hailed as a game changer