Union Ministers Smriti Irani, Nirmala Sitharaman and former Chief Ministers Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan are among the 27 members manifesto committee, announced by the BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as the party brainstorms and seeks suggestions from people across the country for its election promises.
The BJP president JP Nadda released the names of the manifesto committee which include 11 Ministers and Chief Ministers besides others.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will head the manifesto committee, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman serving as the convenor, and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as the co-convenor.
In January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited the youth of the nation to contribute to BJP’s manifesto for upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
This is the first time in many decades that some of the core ideological promises of the BJP may not find mention in its election manifesto has added to the general curiosity about what will be the highlights of the ruling party’s poll pledges
this time.
With Article 370 repealed by the Government headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in its second term and the Ram temple construction in full swing and already open to devotees, two of the party’s core promises for several polls stand fulfilled.
The BJP Governments in some States are also working to implement the Uniform Civil Code, another of its foundational pledges.
With Prime Minister Modi often asserting that his third term will be marked by big decisions, the buzz around its manifesto has been gaining in traction.
The party is already in the process of seeking suggestions from different groups.
Its national president Nadda had last month flagged off “Viksit Bharat Modi ki Guarantee” video vans, which are meant to travel across the country to collect people’s inputs on the contents of its manifesto.
The BJP has also devised a ‘GYAN’ formula consisting of four segments - Garib (poor), Yuva (youth), Annadata (farmers) and Nari (women) - which will be focus in the manifesto.
Earlier this week the ruling party had also released its State-wise list of star campaigners for the Lok Sabha polls - including Prime Minister Modi as well as numerous union and chief ministers.
Rajnath, a former party president, was the head of the BJP’s manifesto committee for the 2019 polls as well. Many members have been repeated in the current panel as well. Ignored in Rajasthan, the party has included Vasundhara Raje in the manifesto committee.
The 27-member list released by the BJP also includes the names of the recently elected Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav as well. The party has also appointed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as a member of the election manifesto committee.
However, not all Chief Ministers, including Yogi Adityanath of Uttar Pradesh, are its members, with party sources saying that senior leaders of the party who are not in the committee may be made part of other organisational exercises related to the elections.
Bihar leaders Sushil Kumar Modi and Ravi Shankar Prasad, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, former Union minister Jual Oram, party’s organisational leaders like Vinod Tawde, Radha Mohan Das Agrawal, Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Tariq Mansoor have been included in the committee too.
Senior Congress leader AK Anthony’s son Anil Anthony was also included in the manifesto committee. Antony and Mansoor are among the party’s Christian and Muslim faces respectively.
Former Haryana BJP president OP Dhankar is also a member.
According to sources, the BJP manifesto will also highlight the achievements of the Modi government’s 10 years rule.
Nearly 97 crore eligible Indian voters will over six weeks and seven phases starting April 19 decide which political party will form the next Government in the world’s largest democracy. Following slogans like ‘abki baar Modi sarkar’ in 2014 and ‘phir ek baar Modi sarkar’ in 2019, the BJP’s new campaign chant in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections is ‘abki baar 400 paar’.
