One of the significant electoral promises that propelled Chandrababu Naidu to power in Andhra Pradesh was the one related to the loan waiver. YS Jagan however ruled out a loan waiver as he believed it to be impractical.
As later results show, this made the difference between victory and defeat for Jagan. Ironically, even the people who voted for the loan waiver are yet to realize the benefits of the scheme to date. That is a different story. Moral of the story is that populist measures always pay over practical ones.
The BJP was guilty of committing a similar blunder in the recent Delhi polls.
While Kejriwal promised to reduce the electricity bills to everyone by half, BJP only promised what was rational without being specific on the issue. The result? People voted like crazy for Kejriwal. That Delhi is not self-sufficient in power and has to purchase its power from other states is not the concern of the electorate.
If its own tariff bills are slashed in half where would Kejriwal find the funds from to purchase power from other States? But then, it is not common sense that wins you the election at the end of the day. The above events clearly prove that!
