Madhya Pradesh Polls: BJP releases manifesto; talks of cooking gas subsidy, girls' education

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released its manifesto for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled for November 17.

The state's ruling party promised cooking gas cylinders at Rs 450 under schemes such as 'Ladli Bahna' and 'PM Ujjwala', and free education for girls from poor families up to post-graduation, among other promises.

The party also said it would procure wheat at Rs 2,700 and paddy at Rs 3,100 per quintal. The BJP further said it was planning to establish Eklavya Vidyalayas in every Scheduled Tribe (ST) block, along with the establishment of medical colleges in these blocks.

Furthermore, free education up to the 12th class will be provided for students from poor families, and a Madhya Pradesh Institute of Technology and a Madhya Pradesh Institute of Medical Sciences, modeled after the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), will be established.

The BJP, in its manifesto, assured that nobody in the state would have to face homelessness and to achieve this, a Chief Minister's Jan Awas Yojana (housing scheme) will also be launched along the lines of the Prime Minister's Awas Yojana.

In addition to this, the BJP said, it will make sure government schools provide nutritious breakfast for students along with mid-day meals.

It also promises six new expressways and a budget of Rs 3 lakh crore for the empowerment of tribal communities.

State BJP chief VD Sharma said that a committee has prepared the manifesto after discussions and seeking suggestions from all sections and intellectuals of society.

“The manifesto includes the aspirations of the people,” he said and added that conventions were organised at divisional levels to discuss it.

He said that boxes were kept during the party’s “11,000-km-long Jan Ashirwad Yatra”, a mass-contact programme, in which seven lakh suggestions were received. Many of them were researched and included in the manifesto, he said.

The voting for the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly will be in a single phase on November 17 and results will be announced on December 3.

The upcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh are crucial for both the BJP and the Congress party. While the BJP is looking to retain power in the state, the Congress is aiming to make a comeback.