Farm distress to be Cong’s focus in Raj

Addressing agrarian distress will be the key focus of the Congress party’s manifesto for the upcoming December 7 poll in Rajasthan.

The manifesto will be released on Thursday by Pilot and former CM Ashok Gehlot in Jaipur.

“Congress president Rahul Gandhi has maintained that the party will waive off the farmers’ loan within 10 days of coming to power in Rajasthan,” said state Congress chief Sachin Pilot. “The farmers are in distress and their plight is visible everywhere.”

Unlike its manifestos in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana, the Congress has avoided any mention of constructing cow shelters or financial assistance to religious institutions. The manifesto will also focus on job opportunities, and women and children issues, Pilot said.

In MP, which voted on Wednesday, Congress promised cowsheds in all the 23,000 village panchayats, and developing a Ram Path Gaman, the mythical route that Lord Rama traversed during his 14 years of exile.

In Telangana, which also goes to polls on December 7, Congress has promised free electricity to places of worship, increasing financial assistance to 643 temple priests to ₹9,000 and salary hike to imams to ₹6000, and to grant the Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Christians.

The Congress deferred releasing its manifesto on Wednesday after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party released theirs on November 26. The BJP manifesto promises a ₹250-crore rural start-up fund, a monthly allowance of ₹5000 to the jobless and targets specific communities including Jains, Brahmins and Dalits through a raft of initiatives.

“Our big focus is on social sector schemes and also how to enhance the government revenue. We are in dire financial mess,” Pilot said.

“Five years ago when Vasundhara Rajeji took over as the chief minister..., the debt was ₹1.4 lakh crore and today it is ₹3.3 lakh crore. The Centre has given no support in the past five years. That is why people have suffered... She had got a huge mandate... She has betrayed the trust of the people.”

BJP national media head Anil Baluni said, “They had an economist Prime Minister for 10 years who ruined the economy of this country. When they talk of looking after the economy they mean taking care of the economy of the Gandhi family.”