Congress’ Delhi manifesto to promise NYAY

NEW DELHI: The city unit of Congress will soon release a Delhi-specific

manifesto

, which will essentially mirror the national document but, at the same time, deal with issues more relevant to the capital, such as sealing, pollution, health care and transport.


The primary promise, sources said, would be the implementation of the minimum income guarantee scheme (

NYAY

), committing a sum of Rs 72,000 annually to 20% of poor families.

DPCC spokesperson Jitender Kumar Kochar on Tuesday said the party would bring out a separate booklet for Delhi once the candidates for the seven

Lok Sabha

seats were announced. The booklet will aim to familiarise the voters with NYAY apart from other promises made by Congress. The document, however, may again steer clear of the demand for statehood for Delhi. The issue has been one of the sticking points in the alliance talks between Congress and AAP.

AAP has pitched its entire LS campaign around the promise of full statehood for Delhi.

Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday held a meeting with all party councillors and asked them to highlight Congress’ commitment to job creation, at both central level and in the capital.

In an apparent dig at BJP’s manifesto, Dikshit said: “The Congress manifesto is not personality centric, and covers the needs and aspirations of all sections of the people, including the poorest of the poor, women, the unemployed, and small and medium level traders and businessmen who have been ruined by demonetisation and the faulty implementation of GST.”

Dikshit asked the councillors to conduct door-to-door visits and strike a chord with voters. During these visits, the party representatives will also point out “shortcomings” in BJP’s manifesto. “Congress will fulfil all the promises it has made in the manifesto. We make only those promises that can be delivered unlike BJP whose manifesto is full of lies and hollow promises and centred around just one man — (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi,” Dikshit said.