MiD DAY tells you why no political party in the state has so far released its election manifesto, even as the race heats up
Promises and politicians go together. But even as the Lok Sabha elections are round the corner, none of the major political parties in Maharashtra have declared their manifestos. The parties feel releasing specific manifestos do not make sense since these are the national elections and a seat-sharing arrangement with their alliance partners has yet to be finalised. Here's what each party has to say:
Sushilkumar Shinde during the release of the Congress-NCP-RPI-allies common manifesto for the 2004 Assembly election. FILE PIC
Shiv Sena: Subhash Desai, general secretary of the party, said, "We can release the manifesto even a day before the voting day. I don't think there is a delay; manifestos can be released even 10 years before the elections. This is a Lok Sabha election that we are contesting with the BJP, a national party. We will release a joint manifesto soon."
The Shiv Sena and the BJP had famously coined the word Vachan Nama for manifesto during the 2004 assembly elections.
BJP: Spokesperson Madhav Bhandari explained that "a committee is working on the manifesto that will be released in a few days."
Congress: Manikrao Thakre, state president of the Congress, said, "We are a national party and we will be releasing a national manifesto. There can be some issues of state importance in the manifesto." However, a Congress leader said state issues will be relegated to the back pages if they do not have national significance.
Nationalist Congress Party: Prakash Binsale, spokesperson for the party, said, "We are fighting elections as part of the UPA. We are in talks with the Congress over the manifesto of the alliance. Whether we have a joint manifesto or not will be decided later."
What's a manifesto? A manifesto is a public declaration of promises that the party intends to keep once elected to power. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has promised television sets and money for families below the poverty line every month as part of its manifesto.
