AHMEDABAD : After supposedly consulting 65 lakh people in Gujarat, the Congress came out with a ‘Jan Ghoshna Patra’ on Saturday to declare that the party, if it comes to power, will change the name of the Narendra Modi stadium at Motera to Sardar Patel stadium.
Addressing the media, chairperson of the manifesto committee Dipak Babariya said: “The name of Sardar Patel Stadium was changed… We’ll ensure in the first cabinet meeting that the stadium’s name is kept intact.”
The two-phase elections in the state are due December 1 and 5 and the Congress is hard-pressed to prove that it is way ahead of the fledgling AAP, the third claimant to power. For the ruling BJP, AAP and Congress are equally significant amid desertions and loyalty shifts in the three principal adversaries.
In another set of promises contained in the manifesto, the Congress promisesd to create 10 lakh jobs for all Gujaratis. The party said it would ensure 50% quota for women in government jobs with a monthly grant of Rs 2,000 to every woman, widow, and elderly woman of the state.
The Congress also promised farm loan waivers up to Rs 3 lakh, 300 units of free electricity, a monthly grant of Rs 3,000 to each unemployed youth, and a domestic gas cylinder for Rs 500. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, who is party’s Gujarat in-charge, said if the Congress was voted to power, investigations would be ordered into all complaints of corruption over the past 27 years.