Take BJP’s 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto, drop it in a pot and boil it on low heat. Then add AIADMK’s 2016 manifesto and the Congress’ 2017 manifesto for Punjab. Stir it well and let it simmer. Now add BJP’s 2018 Tripura manifesto and stir it again. Season it with jargon like “inclusive”, “participative” and such head-spinning stuff. Serve it hot.

Never mind if the resulting whatchamacallit is a potpourri of old recipes. What you have got is the brand new election manifesto of Congress for next month’s Assembly election in Karnataka. But the concoction has two most overpowering aromas: jobs and cell phones. Familiar ringtones? Never mind them either.

Among other things, the Congress manifesto, released by party president Rahul Gandhi in Mangaluru on Friday, promises to create one crore jobs in Karnataka in the next five years and to give away free cell phones to college-going students in the 18-23 age group. Unlike the promise of cell phones, the assurance of jobs leaves one scratching their heads.

Narendra Modi promised two crore jobs every year if voted to power in 2014, but his critics have been pointing out that not even two lakh new jobs have been created since he took over. Gandhi has been asking Modi repeatedly like a stuck record: Where are the jobs you promised?

The question to ask now is: How will Siddaramaiah dish out one crore jobs in his state in five years? By his own admission at an event organised by The New Indian Express in January this year, Siddaramaiah said his government had generated 15 lakh jobs in the last four years.

One crore jobs in five years mean 20 lakh a year, right? So that’s more than what he did in all of four years.

If your head begins to spin, hold it. There’s more: In July 2017, he said proudly that his government had set itself the target of creating 1.8 lakh jobs by 2020.

How does this target of 1.8 lakh jobs in three years turn into one crore in five years? No prizes for guessing, please. Elections can turn a mouse into a rhinoceros in a minute.

All that the new manifesto said by way of an explanation was that Congress, if voted to power, would kick off programmes for skill development, encourage entrepreneurship and increase the employability of youth.