Voters no longer willing to trust \'coalition of rivals\': Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: Buoyed by the exit poll predictions, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that voters are no longer willing to trust a 'coalition of rivals' and do not elect a hung Parliament where ugly and untenable coalitions have a role to play.

Commenting on the exit polls that have good tidings for his party, he said in his blog that the results of the exit polls and final results on the May 23 are in the same direction.

"If the Exit Polls are read along with the 2014 election results, it would be clear that there is a huge maturing of Indian democracy taking place. The electorate keeps national interest paramount before exercising a choice on whom to vote for. When well-meaning people with similar ideas vote in the same direction, it leads to the making of a wave," Jaitley wrote in his blog.

"Dynastic parties, caste parties and the Obstructionists Left received a setback in 2014. This will be reiterated, loud and clear, in 2019. A coalition of Rivals are untenable alliances and the voters are no longer willing to trust them. Political analysts are confused but the voters are clear. They don't elect hung Parliament where ugly and untenable coalitions have a role to play," he said.

"The arithmetic of caste coalitions loses to the chemistry on the ground created for the front runner in the elections. This chemistry is in the form of catching the imagination of the people on issues of national interest," wrote Jaitley.

He further said that personalised campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not cut any ice in 2019.

"The personalised campaign against Prime Minister Modi did not cut much ice in 2014 and may not cut any ice in 2019. Leaders are judged on merit and not on caste or family names. Thus, the Prime Minister's style of rising above caste and concentrating on performance related issues received far more acceptability with the electorate," wrote Jaitley.

"I re-assert my earlier hypothesis that in the Congress the first family is no longer an asset but an albatross around the neck of the Party. Without the family, they don't get the crowd, with it they don't get the votes," he wrote.

Exit polls on television channels on Sunday projected the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to retain power at the Centre with most of the pollsters giving Prime Minister Modi a clear majority again in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

 

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