With only two days left for the assembly elections to be held in the state, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday released the party’s manifesto for the state. Speaking at a rally before the launch he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh of working only for a bunch of friends who are businessmen.
“In Delhi, Prime Minister Modi has 10-15 friends. Similarly, Raman Singh also has 10-15 businessmen friends in Chhattisgarh. Both of them take permission from all their friends before doing any work. While it used to take Rs 35,000 per year to run MGNREGA during UPA regime, in the last four-and-half years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cleared debt of Rs 3,50,000 crore of 15-20 businessmen,” Gandhi alleged.
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“All of you were standing in long queues during demonetisation (in 2016), but not one black money holder was seen (in the queue). Also, Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi and Mehul Choksi ran away from the country with your money,” he added. The BJP spokesperson was quick to react to this and said that Rahul Gandhi was seen in the queue.
The key takeaways of the Congress manifesto are:
- All farmer loans to be waived off immediately within 10 days of the formation of a Congress government in the state.
- MSP to be fixed as per the Swaminathan Commission report and provisions for the pension of farmers above 60 years of age will be put in place.
- Promises 35 kilograms of rice at the cost of Re 1 every month.
- Electricity bills to be cut by half for domestic consumption
- ‘Ghar Ghar Rozgaar, Har Ghar Rozgaar’ promises apprenticeship programmes and employment opportunities for the youth.
- Under the Rajiv Mitr Yojna, the Congress government will also provide monthly stipend to 10 lakh unemployed youth for financial support.
- Under the Congress’ Jan Ghoshna Patra, women safety has been given priority. Strict enforcement of laws, setting up of special women police stations and women help cells in every police station
- Special conveyance for women for late-night commuting .
Poll campaigning for the first phase in the state is in full swing as PM Modi addressed a rally in Jagdalpur and held a roadshow in Chief Minister Raman Singh’s constituency Rajnandgaon.
In 2013 assembly polls BJP had lost 12 of the 18 seats for which voting will be held on Nov 12. The remaining 72 constituencies will go to polls on November 20 and counting of votes will be held on December 11.
A total of 1,291 candidates are in the fray for the two phased state polls.
In the 2013 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 49 seats, Congress 39, BSP 1 and Independent 1 in the 90-member House. Chhattisgarh polls will be held in two phases, November 12 and November 20.
(With ANI inputs)
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