‘Modi vs chaos’: Jaitley hits out at Opposition’s ‘sham unity arithmetic’

New Delhi, Jan 21: Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday attacked those who are spreading negative "anti-Modi agenda" before the Lok Sabha elections 2019.

"Every General Election has its own script. The script is dictated by the prevailing political environment in the country. The nature of the political battle for 2019 is unfolding itself. India's opposition has a two-fold strategy, firstly, negative anti-Modi agenda and secondly, to combine as many political groups together so as to take the best advantage of the electoral arithmetic," he wrote.

"A negative campaign works when there is a strong anti-incumbency either against the Government or against the leader. Anti-incumbency is a process by which the Government of the day loses an election and the opposition wins by default. Unhappy people vote a Government out. When there is a comfort level with the Government and its leader, a set of more satisfied people vote a Government back," he added.

"People are more intelligent than what politicians may think. They never choose chaos as an option. Aspirational society never commits collective suicide as they do not suffer from a Lemming Syndrome. People want a 5 Year Government, not a 6 Month one," Jaitley asserted in his latest blog titled 'Agenda for 2019 - Modi Vs. Chaos'.

"The opposition is making Prime Minister Modi's continuation in office as a key political issue. We in BJP welcome this agenda being set by the opposition," Jaitley said.

Jaitley said that the anti-Modi campaign is bound to fail as the level of satisfaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very high.

"If that weren't so, where was the need for multiple disparate forces to come together against him? It is only the fear of his popularity and comeback that is bringing them together. The Prime Minister remains by far the most popular, decisive and dynamic leader of the present set of politicians," he said.

Taking a dig at the recent Oppn's mega rally in Kolkata, he said that the rally was significant since the opposition politics has thrown up four desirous Prime Ministers wishing to challenge Prime Minister Modi and out of four three contenders were missing in the rally. "Besides Mamata Banerjee, the other three - Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati and KCR were significantly absent in Kolkata," he added.

"Two-third of those on stage were those who in the past have worked with the BJP. Some octogenarians reached Kolkata to satisfy their late-life ambitions. There was not a single speech reflecting the positive idea which the leaders proposed for the future. Negativism was writ large in their approach," he said.

"People are more intelligent than what politicians may think. They never choose chaos as an option. Aspirational society never commits collective suicide as they do not suffer from a Lemming Syndrome. People want a 5 Year Government, not a 6 Month one," Jaitley.