It seems the Congress has finally figured out reasons for their drubbing in the 2013 Assembly polls – power and water. The party manifesto, the first part of which was released on Friday, promised to bring down power bills by almost 50 per cent while waiving off the “inflated water bills” generated after the Congress was thrown out of power.
The manifesto promised to provide 200 units of electricity for domestic use at Rs. 1.50 per unit as compared to the existing Rs. 2.80, and 50 per cent subsidy for consumption up to 400 units for the domestic user.
Power and water bills and corruption were the three issues that sealed the fate of the Congress party in December 2013 Assembly polls. Observers feel its silence on both issues had played a major role in ensuring its humiliating defeat in the previous Assembly polls while the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) capitalisation on these led it to a legendary debut.
Even as it spelled out promises and a slew of measures across a wide array of topics, the party couldn’t, however, address the other issue which had acted as the final nail in its coffin last year with as much detail – corruption - against which the party only went as far as claiming to develop a “fool-proof” system.
The 16-page manifesto was released jointly by the party’s Delhi election campaign committee chief Ajay Maken, All India Congress Committee in-charge P.C. Chacko and Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Arvinder Singh with Mr. Singh referring to it as the “Quran and Gita” of the party.
“Through this manifesto, the party isn’t offering to build a Red Fort orf Qutub Minar for the people of Delhi but making promises which can be fulfilled and ambitions which can be realistically realised,” Mr. Maken said
“The dedication of each Congress worker and leader who has contributed to the manifesto can be felt in every word that has been printed on it,” Mr. Maken added.
“We will waive off old water supply bills, too. As far as corruption is concerned, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has already led to the creation of a strong Jan Lokpal bill which we aim to strengthen in Delhi,” Mr. Singh said, adding that the second part of the manifesto would be released in the next few days.
Through the manifesto, the party also promised to set up cyber cafes, carry out major expansion of Delhi Metro, give concessional metro passes for students, increase pension to all deserving categories to Rs 2,000 per month, hike the salary of anganwadi workers by upto 50 per cent and provide 24x7 modern diagnostic centres in the state-run hospitals.
