My meal, your revdi

It is raining freebies in Karnataka. The Congress is promising 10 kilos of rice or wheat every month to the poor, 200 units of power, ₹2,000 to every female family head, ₹1,500 to every jobless diploma holder, and ₹3,000 to every jobless graduate.

- R. PRASANNAN

The BJP, initially sceptical of freebies which Narendra Modi has been scoffing at as revdis, has followed suit. In return for another chance at government with or without Basavaraj Bommai, the party is offering every poor household half a litre of Nandini (mind you, no Amul) milk every day, 5 kilos of rice and millets every month, and three cylinders of gas a year to boil the milk and cook the grain.

True to Modi style, the BJP has given a rhyming touch to their package. All their free offers and subsidies have been packed into seven As—anna (food), akshara (education), aarogya (health), abhivruddhi (prosperity), aadaya (profit), and abhaya (shelter).

The Congress package looks clumsy. They have stuffed most goodies into two G-packages (not to be confused with 2G). They call their free power scheme grha jyoti (bright home) and schemes for women as grha lakshmi (prosperous home). The rest are spilling over from the grha bundles.