Sometimes election manifesto promises can come back to haunt those who made them. In Goa for instance, the BJP promised to reduce petrol prices by Rs 11 and they did it after being voted to power. But as the exchequer dried up, the excise duty returned but the figure remained low thanks to a fall in the international price of crude oil. In UP, the BJP promised to waive all agricultural loans and now that they won with three-fourths majority, the party has to deliver. The only problem is that this promise alone could cost the UP State government Rs 36,000 crore, nearly three times the size of the Goa budget. Even before thinking of waiving off the loans the State government will have to find ways and means to raise the money to bridge the deficit. In the end someone will have to cough up the Rs 36,000 crore because there is no such thing as a free lunch. And that someone will be other taxpayers and industry. This is going to a major nightmare for the new dispensation headed by Yogi Adityanath.
