E-Paper
Madhya Pradesh polls: Congress releases manifesto focussed on welfare
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan rejected the manifesto as a bundle of lies and said his predecessor Kamal Nath made 900 promises five years back but did not implement even nine of them
The Congress on Tuesday promised ₹25 lakh health and ₹10 lakh accidental insurance schemes for all, a caste census, purchase of cow dung at ₹2 per kg as it released its manifesto focussed on welfare ahead of the November 17 elections in Madhya Pradesh.
Former chief minister Kamal Nath, Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh, Congress’s manifesto committee head Rajendra Singh, and campaign committee chief Kantilal Bhuria were among those present at the launch of the document titled Vachan Patra. Nath said he would like to see an Indian Premier League team from Madhya Pradesh and also promised a scheme for sportspersons.
The Congress promised a waiver of loans of farmers up to ₹2 lakh per head apart from ₹1500 to ₹3000 monthly for two years for unemployed educated youth. The manifesto guarantees ₹1500 per month to every woman, an LPG cylinder for ₹500, no charges on the consumption of 100 units of power and half tariff on 200 units, resumption of the old pension scheme, free power to farmers for irrigation and 27% reservation to the Other Backward Classes.
The manifesto promises ₹500 to ₹1500 monthly to students of classes 1 to 12, which Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vardra announced at a public meeting in Mandla. It pledges to fill 200000 government posts.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan rejected the manifesto as a bundle of lies. “Kamal Nath made 900 promises five years back but did not implement even nine of them. People do not trust Congress and they know the BJP fulfils its promises. The Congress will not be able to mislead people.”
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram will go to the polls between November 7 and 30 while the results will be declared on December 3. This is the last major electoral exercise ahead of the 2024 national elections.
The Congress wrested power from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Hindi-speaking heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh months before the 2019 general elections. But it managed to win only three of the 65 Lok Sabha seats in the three states five months later as BJP returned to power with a bigger majority at the Centre.
The fresh elections encapsulate the country’s diversity—from Rajasthan in the north to Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in central India, Telangana in the south and Mizoram in the northeast. They are also the first major polls since 26 Opposition parties formed the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance in July to take on the BJP in the 2024 elections.
The Congress hopes to return to power in Madhya Pradesh, the largest of the states going to the polls that sends 29 members to the Lok Sabha. It has set a target of winning 150 of the 230 seats in the state. The Congress lost power to the BJP in Madhya Pradesh in March 2020 after the resignations of 22 legislators.
The BJP has since 2003 been in power (barring 18 months between 2018 and 2020) in Madhya Pradesh, where it faces anti-incumbency and infighting. The BJP lost power to Congress in Himachal Pradesh in 2022 and Karnataka in May.
The Congress is particularly buoyed by its performance in Karnataka, where it returned to power on the back of an ideological campaign centred on welfare, social justice, and anti-corruption.
