Rajasthan Assembly polls: Cong manifesto out today

New Delhi: The Congress is all set to release its manifesto for the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly polls on Thursday.

PCC president Sachin Pilot, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, chairman of the manifesto committee Harish Chaudhary and other senior leaders of the party will release the manifesto, a party spokesperson said.

As part of the campaign, Mr Pilot tweeted, “What do you expect from the incoming Congress government?” The tweet gave a mobile number to which people could send suggestions using WhatsApp.

Party officials said they received more than 95,000 suggestions between 3 and 23 November.

The Congress has also launched a website for seeking suggestions for the manifesto. Insiders say that many messages were complaints from government employees on issues that they want resolved.

For example, about 26,000 teachers were recently selected for state schools but there has been no forward movement. Some teachers had been absorbed during Mr Gehlot’s tenure, but their service conditions had some issues which are yet to be resolved.

Plenty of responses raised the familiar issues of loan waiver and reduction in electricity bills of farmers.

Also included were some less familiar ones, like animals roaming free on the roads. Suggestions on education, health, and agriculture also figure in the replies, though employment generation remains the key concern. Interestingly, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has already announced farm loan waiver.

The BJP has already released its manifesto for the Rajasthan election. The congress demanded that instead of releasing a vision document they should have released a ‘apology letter’. Addressing reporters Congress Communications chief said, “The BJP can waive off loans of big businessmen, but cannot waive the loan of farmers. They have announced to create a start-up fund of Rs 250 crores for farmers. Meaning each farmer will get a help of Rs 50”