Just a week before the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections (November 9), the Congress on Wednesday released its poll manifesto.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, manifesto committee chairman Kaul Singh Thakur and All India Congress Committee observers Sushil Kumar Shinde and Ranjeet Ranjan were among those present at the release of the manifesto.
Pradesh Congress Committee president Sukhwinder Sukhu, however, kept off the function, which was a low-key affair compared to the show put up by the BJP when Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley released its vision document for the State last week.
Mr. Thakur told presspersons that a new Congress government would give small and marginal farmers interest-free an agricultural loan of ₹1 lakh each.
Minimum wage hike
The manifesto promises to increase the minimum wage to ₹350, and regularise the services all para-teachers in the State. The services of all contract employees will be regularised within two years and all daily wagers turned into contract workers within three years. More than 1.5 lakh unemployed youth will be given government employment, it says. Another promise is to raise the unemployment allowance from ₹1,000 to ₹1,500. Social security pensions for the elderly and the underprivileged too will be raised, it says.
The manifesto speaks of opening hostels for working women, scholarships for Scheduled Caste students, and free laptops for at least 50,000 students (instead of the 10,000 promised earlier) with free data.
For government employees, the Congress has again promised the “4-9-14” scale for promotions in jobs. The party has also pledged to fight corruption and improve basic infrastructure in health, roads and village connectivity.
Bundle of lies: BJP
BJP State president Satpal Satti called the Congress manifesto “a bundle of lies.” He said the same promises were made by it five years ago. With a shrinking employee base, the Congress had again promised the “4-9-14 scale”.
“Only a BJP government would fulfil the long-pending demand for promotions for government employees.” Mr. Satti alleged that the five years of Congress rule had “only encouraged various types of drug, liquor and land mafias in the State.”
