BJP's poll manifesto a repetition of promises; some borrowed from us: Congress

The Congress hit out at the ruling BJP on Sunday over its Himachal Pradesh poll manifesto, terming it a "cut-copy-paste" of their five-year-old promises and in parts borrowed from the grand old party's 2022 election document.

BJP president J P Nadda on Sunday promised Uniform Civil Code (UCC), 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs and educational institutions, and sops for different segments as he released the party's manifesto for the state polls.

A mix of Hindutva, development and welfare promises underpinned the 'Sankalp Patra', with Nadda also releasing a separate manifesto for women, a voting segment where measures like free grains, cooking gas connections and toilets have drawn favourable responses for the BJP in different polls.

The Congress' in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Rajiv Shukla and party leader Alka Lamba termed the BJP's manifesto a "cut-copy-paste" document.

"Jairam Thakur has used cut, copied and pasted the BJP's 2017 manifesto and borrowed points from the Congress' 2022 manifesto," Lamba claimed.

At a press conference here along with Lamba, Shukla alleged, "Their manifesto of 2022 is a bundle of lies. When they did not implement the previous one, will they do it now?"

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Shukla also said the BJP's manifesto has not uttered a word about the old pension scheme, restoring which has been a key demand of government employees.

"Implementation of the old pension scheme is a big demand, but they are not doing anything about it. Our governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have implemented it," he said.

On the BJP promising implementation of a Uniform Civil Code in Himachal Pradesh if the party is voted to power, Shukla asked who stopped them from doing so in Uttarakhand where they promised it earlier.

"They have not implemented it anywhere, but at the time of polls they come out with such "'jumla' (rhetoric)".

Further targeting the BJP over their manifesto, Shukla said, "First they were to release it on November 4. Then somebody told them Congress is releasing its manifesto on November 5. They copied and used points from our document. But what they forgot is that they had issued their manifesto in 2017 and they again incorporated some promises now which were not fulfilled earlier."

"So, they copied their own manifesto of 2017 and Congress' present poll manifesto," he alleged, adding, "They neither implemented promises in 2017 nor they are going to do it now, they only mislead people."

In 2017, they promised all roads will be connected with villages but they did nothing and they have now repeated the promise, Shukla alleged.

The BJP promised a StartUp fund last time and did nothing for five years. Now when they saw the congress manifesto talking about a Rs 680-crore StartUp fund, so they made this promise again, he claimed.

"In 2017, the BJP promised one GB of data for free to the youth, but they did not fulfil that. The Congress in its 2022 manifesto promised 5 lakh jobs, out of which one lakh will be government jobs. The BJP promised the creation of eight lakh job opportunities phase-wise. They have not made it time-bound. So, this is just a 'jumla' (rhetoric)," he said.

They should bring out a report card of what they have done. But they have nothing to show, they haven't fulfilled their promises, the Congress leader alleged.

The BJP said GST would be limited to 12 per cent for apple growers. But why are they not scrapping GST, the Congress asked.

Lamba claimed that apple growers in the state are forced to sell their produce at low rates in the absence of a law guaranteeing MSP.

About the old pension scheme, she said the Congress-ruled Rajasthan and Chattisgarh have implemented it without the Centre's help and the beneficiaries reaping the getting gains.

"Within 10 days of coming to power, we will implement this in Himachal Pradesh too," Lamba asserted.

Replying to a question, Shukla said a win in the state will send out a big message since it is "important to stop the autocratic regime".

Also Read | PM Modi 'misusing' power to influence polls, says Congress citing viral video

Asked from where will resources be mobilised to fulfil the Congress' poll promises, he said, "We have given points on how we intend to generate revenue."

About BJP leaders mentioning the Ram temple in their speeches, Shukla said, "From the very beginning we took a stand that a grand Ram temple should be built if the Supreme Court orders so. After the apex court paved way for its construction, we welcomed it."

"We don't seek votes in Lord Ram's name. When polls are round the corner, they (BJP) bring up the Ram temple issue," he said.

Accusing the BJP of being silent on issues like inflation, Lamba said Himachal Pradesh has an unemployment rate of 9.2 per cent and 14 lakh people unemployed.

But the BJP is talking of creating job opportunities phase-wise, she said.

Lamba raked up the women's safety issue in the hill state and asked what steps were taken by the Jairam Thakur government to address it.