In BJP manifesto, power sops, a welfare promise to women?

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) manifesto for the Delhi Assembly elections may turn to some promises the party made in Maharashtra—with a welfare scheme for women, focus on removing surcharge from power bills, shoring up the Capital's water supply from other regions, and adding 10,000 buses to the city's public transit fleet—among likely promises, according to people involved in the drafting process.

- Alok K N Mishra

NEW DELHI:

Suggestions for the vision document have been submitted to the party's national unit to be greenlit, said the people cited above, even as BJP president JP Nadda chaired reviews of the party's preparations for the February 5 elections on Thursday.

The party leaders did not specify when the manifesto will be released, though this is likely in "two or three days". "The BJP's manifesto committee has studied several proposals that were a part of the Maharashtra manifesto," said a party leader who asked not to be named.

"People of Maharashtra responded very positively to issues on which the party fought the Maharashtra elections and guarantees it made in the manifesto. The BJP may also release a 'Delhi Vision Document' like it did for Maharashtra," said the leader. The Mahayuti combine in Maharashtra, led by the BJP and comprising the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party scored a stunning victory in the assembly elections last year, winning 235 of 288 seats.

The Mahayuti government's Ladki Bahin Yojana—which offered poor women ₹2,100 a month—reaped rich electoral dividends, and the BJP may float a similar promise ahead of the Delhi elections, party leaders said.

A senior BJP leader said: "In some form or the other, we plan to provide all four key benefits related to power, water, free bus travel and monthly assistance."