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BJP, Congress to release manifesto after citizen’s charter
BJP and Congress unveil national manifestos for 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Pune awaits city-specific promises from both parties, addressing citizen demands and expectations.
Pune: Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress have unveiled their national manifestos while the candidates have set a vision for Pune, the two parties are also preparing to release local manifestos specifically focused on the city.
On Sunday, BJP released its manifesto (Sankalp Patra) with the tagline ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ for the Lok Sabha election 2024 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while Congress brought out ‘Naya Patra’ with assurance of employment generation, justice to everyone, women empowerment etc.
Now, city units of Congress and BJP are preparing a Pune-centric manifesto for the Pune Lok Sabha Constituency to respond to various demands and expectations set by various sections including citizen forums. Congress has formed a committee under senior congress leader Abhay Chhajed.
Last week, environmental activists released a ‘Citizen Manifesto’ focusing on water sustainability, saving green cover and improving public transportation for Pune Loksabha constituency candidates. It has cleared the expectations of citizens from Congress and BJP in the 2024 Loksabha polls.
Now, it has turned off both parties about what they are going to assure citizens.
Advocate Chhajed, a senior leader of the Congress party, mentioned, “We’re busy crafting our manifesto. It’ll be ready in about four to five days. It’ll cover promises from ‘Naya Patra’ as well as concerns of citizens like water, infrastructure, jobs, preserving green spaces, empowering women, and addressing youth issues. This document will thoroughly address both the problems and solutions for Pune city.”
BJP eye on overall Pune development
Rajesh Pande, Vice president of Maharashtra state said, “We are working on a Pune-centric manifesto which will include the overall city development plan. Probably, it will be released next week.”
In 2019, BJP was focused on the timely completion of infrastructural projects that were launched in the city in the past five years, including the Metro, the outer and inner ring roads, flyovers and the transit hub. The party had drafted considering the city’s growth over the next five decades.
The manifesto also paid attention to the city’s fringe areas witnessing large-scale development. It had proposed a hyperloop project between Pune and Mumbai besides strengthening the rail network in the Lonavala-Daund section.
It will be interesting to see what the BJP presents for Pune city. Member of Parliament (MP) Girish Bapat could not complete his tenure as they died due to prolonged illness in March 2023. Therefore, there was no representation of Pune City for almost one year.
The Mula-Mutha River rejuvenation project (RRP), funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), was approved during the first term of the BJP government in 2016. It received sanctions from the central government. Additionally, the central government is partially funding the project. After eight years since its approval, the project has completed around 40 per cent of its work.
Pune Metro has completed Pune Metro Line-2 from Vanaz to Ramwadi, and it’s fully operational. However, Pune Metro Line-1, from Pimpri-Chinchwad to Swargate, will be finished after the Lok Sabha polls.
The Central government hasn’t approved the Swargate to Katraj underground extension of Pune Metro Line-1, even though it was easily possible. This delay is attributed to the lack of leadership in Pune and insufficient follow-up.
On the Pune-Mumbai Hyperloop project, the State government mentioned that the project had not been scrapped yet. However, they pointed out a lack of clarity on the technology as it has yet to be tried and tested anywhere in the world.
