The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released its manifesto for the upcoming Gujarat elections and promisesd to make the state a $1 trillion economy, to provide girls free education, and implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
BJP President JP Nadda released the BJP manifesto on Saturday, called the 'Sankalp Patra'. Gujarat will have elections in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will take place on December 8.
The BJP Gujarat manifesto also promised free education to girls from pre-primary to post-graduate level.
Gujarat is the fourth state so far where the BJP has talked of implementing UCC. Earlier, Uttarakhand, Assam, and Karnataka have also raised the issue of UCC, with Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami setting up a committee for it.
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The BJP also made promises in the energy and agriculture sectors, promising Rs 80,000-crore Shyamji Krishna Varma Renewable Energy Mission, expansion of Gujarat's irrigation network at a cost of Rs 25,000 crore, and creation of Gujarat Agriculture Infrastructure Cell with an investment of Rs 10,000 crore.
The BJP has also promised to make Gujarat number one in the country in civil aviation, modernise the state police force, and bringing Rs 5 lakh crores of foreign investment in the next five years.
The BJP has also assured that the amount of medical insurance coverage under the Ayushman Bharat scheme would be doubled from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.
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The BJP in Gujarat faces competition with the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The entry of AAP has made the traditional bipolar Gujarat assembly election triangular this time. Retaining Gujarat, where the BJP has been in power for over two decades, is a matter of prestige for the BJP as it's the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was as the Chief Minister of Gujarat that Modi acquired the popular support to be BJP's prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 general election.
Both the Congress and AAP have made a slew of populist promises, such as providing free electricity, cheaper cooking gas, and allowance to all families. AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has promised to bring the 'Delhi Model' to Gujarat.
Some of the key promises in the Congress manifesto are 10 lakh jobs in government and semi-government departments, free medical treatment of up to Rs 10 lakh, LPG cylinder at Rs 500, 300 units of free electricity every month, unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 per month, Rs 2,000 pension to divyangs, widows, senior citizens and needy women, and waiver of loans of up to Rs 3 lakh of all fishermen.
The AAP has also promised free water to farmers, Rs 3,000 unemployment allowance, and waiver of electricity bills.
With PTI inputs)
