Gujarat polls: Modi promises affordable housing for poor, Cong takes credit

Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday came out with his party's election manifesto in the form of a commitment letter to the voters. The promises made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader included a specific focus on affordable housing for the poor and Narmada water for Saurashtra.

It was the result of a scramble for applications forms for affordable houses that led to a chaos in Ahmedabad three months ago, following which the Modi government had abruptly dropped the scheme.

Since then the Congress has targeted Modi on the issue of housing for poor. And Now as a counter to the Congress campaign, Modi's election manifesto's key highlight is a promise for 50 lakh houses for the poor.

The Chief Minister said, "We had promised to provide 20 lakh houses in our last manifesto and completed 22 lakh houses. We promise 50 lakh houses this time and I believe that we will make more houses than that."

Other promises made by Modi are equally focused on combating allegations that he's focused on industrial growth and not social development. The key promises made by him include Narmada water for Saurashtra, which is to combat farmer discontent, insurance for all scheme and focus on agro-based industry.

The Congress claims that its campaign on serious development issues has resulted in Modi making the promises.

Congress leader Arjun Modvadia said, "The Congress made three boards for the welfare of the poor and middle-class in Gujarat. The BJP stopped all these three boards from functioning after coming to power. They have left the Aam Aadmi dependent on private builders."

It is also a reminder that for the first time since 2002, the focus of an election in the state is not on Modi the politician and personality, but his governance and social development in the last 11 years.

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