Just days ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released its ‘Sankalp Patra’ or manifesto in Gandhinagar. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, BJP national president JP Nadda and state party president CR Patil presented the manifesto of the saffron party today.
The ruling party has made several promises in its manifesto, including implementation of Uniform Civil Code, one lakh government jobs for women, 10,000 crores for Agri-Marketing Infra, Blue Economy Industries Corridor, Financial Assistance to EWS/OBC students etc.
Under its Sankalp Patra, the BJP has also promised separate funds for poor people, education, AIIMS-level medical facilities and irrigation in Saurashtra as well as South Gujarat. It has also assured to create 20 lakh new jobs in the state.
Releasing the manifesto, Nadda described Gujarat as the “land of change makers” and cited the example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who started his journey from Gujarat. He also said that Gujarat has given political direction to the country.
“For the progress of Gujarat, we will make Gujarat’s economy equal to 1 trillion economy by making the state a foreign direct investment destination. We will create an anti-radicalization cell and sleeper cells of terrorist organizations and anti-India forces to identify and eliminate potential threats,” the BJP chief promised.
“We will also enact a law related to damage to public property. Nadda said that the law will be in respect of recovery from anti-social elements who damage public property and attack private property.
After announcing several guarantees to the Gujarati people, CM Bhupendra Patel said, ‘In the last two decades, we (BJP) have got a lot of love from the people here. These are not empty promises, but our commitment towards the development roadmap set by PM Modi. We only promise what we can deliver.”
The BJP, which has been ruling the state for the last 27 years, is facing a big challenge this time in the mind of the voter due to monotony and the spirit of change. PM Modi who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat Gained popularity for his development model of Gujarat from 2002-2014. After he became the Prime Minister in 2014, the BJP has tried several faces as its Chief Minister who can carry on his legacy.
In the last election in 2017, the BJP had won 99 seats and the Congress came a close second with 77 seats. After the elections, 14 Congress MLAs joined the BJP and the party currently has 111 MLAs under Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.
Elections to the 182-member state assembly will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will take place on December 8.