New Delhi: Hectic consultations are going on within the Congress for the Assembly elections in three states and Union Territory Jammu & Kashmir as Rahul Gandhi and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge want a thorough assessment of the financial implications of the promises.
According to party insiders, both Rahul and Kharge are aware of the competitive politics not only with the BJP, but also with the grand old party allies in the states, who may also come out with their own manifestos. The initial focus is on Haryana where elections are due on October 5 and in UT J&K where voting will take place on September 18, 25 and Oct 1, but discussions for the Congress manifestos in Maharashtra and Jharkhand where elections will be held later this year are also going on.
“Discussions over the draft manifestos for all the three states and UT J&K are going on. The state units are working on the drafts, but we are guiding them. Though Haryana and J&K elections will be held first, we must be ready with our draft manifestos for Maharashtra and Jharkhand as well,” AICC coordinator for the party manifestos in states TS Singh Deo told ETV Bharat.
“Congress manifestos are sacred documents for former chief Rahul Gandhi and incumbent party chief Mallikarjun Kharge. Both leaders want that financial cost of the election guarantees made by the Congress in states to be studied in advance. We don’t want to make hollow guarantees like the BJP does. We will list only what is doable,” said Deo.
Though there is no issue in Haryana where the Congress hopes to win elections on its own, in UT J&K Congress ally NC has already announced its own manifesto. If the alliance wins, a Common Minimum Programme for governance would be worked out later.
According to Congress insiders, the NC manifesto mentions the return of Article 370 of the Constitution that gave Special Status to the erstwhile state and was removed by the Modi government in 2019.
Over the last week, the saffron party has been targeting the INDIA bloc over the mention of Article 370 in NC’s election manifesto. For the NC voter base in Kashmir, the controversial article is an emotive as well as political issue.
Like in Jammu & Kashmir, the Congress is fighting the coming Assembly elections in Maharashtra in alliance with Shiv Sena UBT and Sharad Pawar's party. In Jharkhand, the Congress is an ally of the JMM led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren. In both states, the allies may want to have their own election manifestos, said Congress insiders.
“While discussing our election manifestos we are factoring in this chance also that our allies may want to have their own manifestos although a Common Minimum Programme for governance will be worked out later,” said Deo.
According to Congress insiders, the AICC is also urging the state units to discuss the draft election manifestos with a wide range of stakeholders down to the block level to make the documents truly reflective of the voters’ wishes.
“We have asked them to talk to as many stakeholders across the state to make the manifestos meaningful. So far, they have made some excellent suggestions,” added Deo.
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