UDF, LDF let people down: Arun Jaitley

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley rejected the allegation raised by senior Congress leader A.K. Antony that AgustaWestland was blacklisted during the UPA rule and later lifted by the NDA.

Mr Jaitley, who was here to launch the Kerala unit of the National Democratic Alliance, said it was “a figment of the imagination of Mr Antony” that the copter deal was cancelled after the bribe issue cropped up. “This is a figment of somebody’s imagination. We are only struggling to find out the identity of the bribe taker,” he said.

He said Kerala should have been one of the most prosperous states in the country going by its resources and assets. The economic model created by the Left was not a developmental model. He said the UDF and LDF had let the people of the state down where they relied most on “vote banks”. He said the BJP would be an alternative to the two.

“The domination of the Congress and the CPI(M) was not based on any developmental politics, but on an emphasis to keep certain vote banks with them,” he said.

When you have vote banks based on sectarian appeal, you do not have to rely much on performance,” he said.

He also said Kerala and West Bengal were the only two major states to face revenue deficit though not geographically disadvantaged. Kerala should make use of its human capital here instead of exporting it.

The NDA Vision Document promises among others land for landless, a housing programme in the name of Sree Narayana Guru, government jobs to all tribal youths who had passed tenth standard and uninterrupted water supply.

Besides BJP, the NDA now comprises BDJS, P. C.Thomas faction of Kerala Congress, A. N. Rajan Babu-led JSS, Kerala Vikas Congress, Lok Janshakti Party, NDP (S), Socialist Janata Dal, Nationalist Kerala Congress, Ganaka Sabha and Janathipathya Rashtriya Sabha led by C. K. Janu.