With the bigwigs of BJP rejecting the idea of promising freebies to the electorate especially in case of Delhi politics where CM Arvind Kejriwal came to power after promising freebies and later fulfilling the same, the suspense with regard to Saffron party's stand on the issue in J&K has become the talk of the town as already many political parties have tried to lure the electorate by the promise of free electricity.
Although, despite giving sermons at length about the disadvantages of freebies as far as country's progress is concerned, the government led by same BJP leadership has been giving free ration every month to over 80 crore people across the country confusing those who sincerely believe in the rhetoric of the leaders of the biggest political party of the world.
It is pertinent to mention that both National Conference (NC) and Apni Party have promised the electorate free units of electricity if people will vote them to power. While the NC has promised 200 units of free power, Apni Party has assured people of 500 free units. Not only this, even the Congress leaders have also hinted that the party manifesto would include free electricity for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
As the electricity has remained a major issue in both regions of Kashmir and Jammu, the promise of free electricity means a lot to the people and surely the promises made by the political parties on free electricity must be giving sleepless nights to BJP leaders in J&K as they have already prepared their manifesto and dispatched the same to party high command for final nod.
It is a big question now that whether BJP has something in offing to counter the ‘bountiful' and attractive offer of free-power because this surely will have a big impact on the elections scheduled to be held on September 18 and 25, and October 1, in three phases with results expected on October 4, the day of counting.
The people of J&K have shown resentment in recent times against the government's decision to replace electronic power meters with Smart Meters alleging that the bills generated by these devices were not correct and they are being forced to pay more.
