TRACK RECORD OF CONGRESS VS BJP IN LAST FIVE YEARS

Congress versus BJP: Who has fared better in the last five years

John Samuel Raja D, ET Bureau Aug 22, 2013, 08.02AM IST

• Uttarakhand|
• The National|
• the middle|
• Narendra Modi|
• metric|
• manufacturing sector|
• Madhya Pradesh|
• Himachal Pradesh|
• gdp|
• fiscal deficit|
• finance|
• Chhattisgarh|
• Assam|
• Andhra Pradesh

• 

(Congress versus BJP: Who…)

When it comes to delivering economic growth and development, who has fared better in the last five years: Congress or the BJP? ET compares 12 states ruled by these two parties for the last five years on 10 socio-economic parameters.

Congress-ruled: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Goa (Till March 2012)

BJP-ruled: Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka (Till May 2013), Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand (Till March 2012), Himachal Pradesh (Till December 2012)

Person matters more than party

In the run up to 2014, both the Congress and the BJP are pitching their economic credentials.

An ET study of their state-level performance for the five years to 2012 shows that neither follows an approach that is homogenous.

And neither is a cut above ” both their portfolios have leaders and laggards. Broadly agreeing with the results, Ajay Shah, professor, National Institute for Public Finance and Policy, says: "There is nothing much that separates the two. There is no nationwide template on governance. Each state has to come with a solution that is different."

Person matters more than party

The states that have taken the biggest strides have one thing in common: a strong leader. For example, Andhra Pradesh, a Congress state, bested the all-India average on 9 of the 10 parameters, a testament to the tenure of the late YSR Reddy from 2004 to 2009. This was matched by only one state: Gujarat, where BJP's prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi has had a 12-year run.

"The result shows it narrows down to how effective a chief minister when it comes to having control over the state unit and how innovative that person is," says Sumita Kale, chief economist with Indicus Analytics. "States that witnessed political turmoil (chief ministers were often changed) have performed lower than other states."

There are nuances, which also mirror the national narrative. For example, the Congress states have done better in poverty alleviation, while the BJP is pumping more money into creating capital assets. But overall, neither party makes a compelling case for itself.

GDP

ALL-INDIA - 8.0% | CONGRESS - 8.4% | BJP - 8.5%

The party homogeneity argument is busted right here. The BJP's sweeps the top three, including two large economies (Gujarat and MP). But the other three are in the bottom four. The Congress, by comparison, dominates the middle  five of its six states, including four middle or large economies, were above the national average.

Agriculture

All-india - 2.5% | Congress - 3.5% | BJP - 5.0%

Three of the BJP states are in the top four, with Gujarat, pulled by cotton and foodgrains, being a cut above even the second-placed Madhya Pradesh. In terms of outperformance to the national average, the count is four for BJP and three from Congress. Two of the Congress states below the national average were big states, Andhra and Maharashtra, the latter showing negative growth.

Factory

ALL-INDIA - NA| CONGRESS - 7.0% | BJP - 7.3%

This proxy for the manufacturing sector is also a divided house. The story of contrast is between Maharashtra (Congress) and Gujarat (BJP) Gujarat grew almost twice the rate of Maharashtra during the period.

Health

The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths per 1,000 live births. No state is even close to developed-world standards — for example, Sweden (2.74) or Japan (2.21). Goa has the lowest IMR rates among the states compared. In terms of sharp improvement, three states managed a drop of 25% or more - one from Congress (Maharashtra) and two from the BJP (Karnataka and Uttarakhand).

Electricity

When incomes increase, so does power consumption, making it a good proxy for a state's progress. This is a rare metric that throws a clear leader: the BJP, which not only holds the top three spots, but do so with an emphatic margin. By comparison, three of the six Congress states languished even below the national average, with Haryana being the worst.

Education

The BJP states enjoyed a historical advantage, showing a high completion rate at the primary school level — kids who join school and complete class five successfully. By comparison, four of the Congress states entered this period with a low score, but showed the maximum improvement.

Poverty alleviation

Another rare metric that shows up a winner of sorts: Congress. Barring Assam, all Congress states showed a significant drop in number of people below the poverty line, led by three large states - Rajasthan, Mahrashtra and Andhra. In the BJP states, the rate of change was relatively smaller.