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| Politics
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| For Congress, a reliable support |
| For Congress, a reliable support base now sizes up Narendra Modi
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| INDIA
, 27-March-2014
5:20:51 AM |
| Jitendra Saini stares at the gleaming solar panels on his farm in Rajasthan, paid in large part by the Congress-led government at the Centre, as he considers who will get his vote in India's election.
"We will be voting for Modi... because Modi knows what real development is," said Saini, 30, about Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.
Saini's income has increased five-fold in the last three years thanks to the heavily subsidised panels which power a drip irrigation system that waters rows of lush vegetables in giant hothouses.
Extra income from the vegetables enabled Saini to build the house, send his children to good schools and buy new machinery for the farm that lies around 160 kilometres outside Delhi.
But with weeks to go before India chooses its next government, analysts say popularity for the Congress is ebbing in the rural heartland, despite its raft of pro-farmer policies during a decade in power. Rajasthan over-whelmingly chose the BJP over the Congress in the state election held in December.
"No rural programmes are actually going to help Congress remain popular in rural areas this time around," Sanjay Kumar, director of Delhi-based think tank the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, told AFP. "This myth about the BJP not being popular in rural areas might be broken at this election."
As he looks to the future, Saini said his family needs opportunities, not welfare programmes.
"I believe that if the entire country progresses, then my family will automatically benefit and will be happy. So the country should develop first," he said of his reasons for supporting Modi who heads the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
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