Cong finds preparing poll manifesto tough

Preparing an election manifesto for local body elections has become a Herculean task for the opposition Congress party.

People have already rejected the achievement and work done by the previous Congress government in the state Assembly.

The Congress mayor too did nothing in the past five years due to lack of support from the municipal board, where BJP councillors are in majority.

Congress has nothing much to tell or promise the people, following which no committee has been reportedly constituted by the party to draft the election manifesto.

Congress sources said all senior leaders of Jaipur have been asked to suggest the points and basic civic problems that can be included in the manifesto.

“There is no use repeating the achievements of the previous government in the local body elections. People have already rejected them, and eventually we lost the elections.
Now it’s up to party leaders to decide how they would woo voters by coming up with a unique manifesto,” a senior Congress leader said.

Adding to the worries is the mayor of the city, who has done nothing for people, he added.

Another party leader said senior leaders of Jaipur are giving informal suggestions that can be included in the manifesto.

“These are local level elections. The party is taking suggestions from Jaipur based leaders who never go in their areas. They don’t know about real problems of small localities. Block and ward level leaders must be consulted to prepare the manifesto as they have a clear idea of every locality. The party is repeating the previous mistakes,” a Congress leader said.

The Rajasthan Congress has fixed 40 per cent quota for youths in the local body elections.

Going by this rule, 40 per cent young and first-time candidates will be given tickets in the mayoral, municipal and local body elections in 46 cities and towns across the state.

Through this move, the party wants to create new leaders at the ground level.