While the Modi government took care of the middle class with its manifesto promising gradual lowering of taxes, the Congress Party manifesto has nothing for the middle class and there was every danger of new taxes being raised to fund ‘Nyay’ - minimum income guarantee scheme, charged Union Minister for Urban Affairs and Housing Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday.
“Where will they get the money to fund the scheme, they will have to raise taxes,” he observed at a press conference here along with senior party leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain. The general elections this time were going to be ‘qualitatively different’ from any other election with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeking re-election of NDA Government with a “positive agenda” as was reflected in the manifesto released on Monday .
Pro-incumbency wave
“We are coming before you proclaiming our achievements to beat the usual anti-incumbency vote with a pro-incumbency wave. This Government has worked with honesty, did not hesitate to take strong measures for the sake of the country’s security and development. Prime Minister Modi’s credibility has no match,” asserted Mr. Puri, a former career diplomat.
The Minister accused the Opposition of overtly seeking a ‘hung’ Parliament and urged citizens to decide if they want this or support a decisive government to take the last five years of “development” forward.
The TRS Government did not show sufficient interest in taking up housing for poor despite the Centre ready to fund, he said and also wanted people to ‘analyse’ Majlis leader Asaduddin Owaisi’s performance as an MP. “Hyderabad is a beautiful city if only the GHMC does its job well, the city face could be changed,” he quipped.
His party colleague Mr. Shahnawaz Hussain said this time it was going to be a direct fight between the BJP and TRS with Congress nowhere in the picture.