The BJP in Andaman and Nicobar Islands unveiled its 'Sankalp Patra' (election manifesto) here on Monday in the presence of senior party leaders including its candidate Bishnu Pada Ray.
The party unit in the Union Territory (UT) has pledged to provide round-the-clock clean water and electricity to every household, regardless of its remoteness.
Additionally, the party promised to improve road transport infrastructure, including the completion of pending work on National Highway-4, which connects Port Blair to Diglipur.
Other commitments include initiating land conversion for commercial to residential purposes, ensuring 100 per cent job reservation for Islanders, advocating for the inclusion of certain settler communities in Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the OBC category, enhancing sports facilities to state-of-the-art standards, promoting tourism activities to meet international standards, and improving the quality of education.
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The other important pointers in the manifesto are ownership of land (presently all properties in the Islands are on lease), implementation of flat registration Act, subsidised airfare for Islanders, to recognise and declare March 10 as ‘Andaman Day’ (to honour those freedom fighters who were brought to this Islands for the first time on March 10, 1858), modernisation of port management, proposal for a hotel management institute, development of Port Blair as an IT hub, among others.
Speaking on the occasion, BJP candidate Bishnu Pada Ray criticised the performance of Congress MP Kuldeep Rai Sharma over the past five years. Ray claimed that Sharma had failed to make any significant improvements for the Islanders.
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Ray, who also served as an MP in the past, highlighted his own lack of a proper house to date, contrasting it with allegations of wealth accumulation against Sharma. Ray questioned the source of Sharma's purported wealth, implying potential impropriety.
"The last five years, Andaman and Nicobar Islands was under Congress MP Kuldeep Rai Sharma. All of us are aware that he did nothing for the betterment of the Islanders. I was also the MP here but I don’t have a proper house till today. But all of us know the kind of properties and money made by Sharma. I would like to ask him from where he got so much money?", Ray said.
