White Paper in hand, BJP lays out its gameplan: Nationwide campaign against Congress, economy to be major poll plank

The White Paper on the Indian economy, which slammed the Congress-led UPA government for “its policy misadventures” and explained how the Narendra Modi government has “straightened” it, will be one of the major poll planks of the ruling BJP with its state units being directed to launch a nationwide campaign around it.

To build the narrative around the 59-page document, tabled in Parliament on Thursday, the government has also scheduled a discussion in the Lok Sabha on Friday and the Rajya Sabha on Saturday.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to reply to the debate for which four hours have been allocated in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The Rajya Sabha will take up the discussion on the White Paper after clearing the legislative business listed for Friday.

Sources said BJP state units across the country will highlight the details of the “White Paper of the Economy” – the first time in Independent India – underscoring “what went wrong in the economy during the 10 years of UPA and the efforts taken by the Modi government to put it back on track”.

Sources in the BJP said the discourse on the White Paper would certainly reinforce the message of the “strong and able leadership” of Modi and the “good governance record of his government that takes the country to be a major economic force in the world.”

A senior BJP leader said: “Every BJP state unit will take this up. The leaders will describe how difficult it was for our government to overcome the crisis created by the UPA government’s mismanagement of economics. Despite the poor state of affairs and the hardships, the Centre had not reduced any tax share for the states. We kept the government on the reform path which led to an increase in revenue.”

The leader said the White