Cong to bring own manifesto

The UPA will not be fighting the coming Lok Sabha elections on its manifesto as the Congress is working on its own manifesto and will seek votes on it. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s interactions with various sections of society in this regard is a clear message to the Congress’ current and prospective allies that he is ready to face the challenge of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and the regional players.
The UPA might be seeking a mandate on the performance of the Manmohan Singh government for a second time, but this will not be seen happening at the national level as the Congress’ strategy is to stitch up alliances at the state level. This could check the regional players from acquiring a national-level profile.
Similarly, the BJP-led NDA, too, is not keen on giving too much importance to allies like the Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena beyond Punjab and Maharashtra for the same reason.
As far as the Congress is concerned, the NCP is its oldest ally in the UPA, which was formed in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections against the BJP-led front. It is expected to fight the coming electoral battle with the NCP, RLD, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference and JMM in Maharashtra, UP, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand, respectively. The RJD and LJP, which have been backing the Manmohan Singh government from the outside since 2009, may rejoin the UPA. In that scenario, all these parties would have to come out with their own election manifestos.
The Congress expects the Telangana Rashtra Samithi to merge with it before the polls.
Mr Rahul Gandhi, the “undeclared” PM candidate of the Congress, is meeting various sections of society — SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities, youth, women and people in the unorganised sector — and assuring them that their issues would figure prominently in the manifesto.
A section of the Congress is unsure of how the manifesto and Mr Gandhi’s interactions with different sections of society would help get votes in the absence of a local face (strong regional satraps). But “Team Rahul” in the party is confident that the newly-appointed PCC chiefs in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Delhi, West Bengal and Kerala will deliver against the BJP in the coming general election.