Today in Politics: Day after manifesto release, Congress top brass hit campaign trail: Kharge, Sonia in Jaipur; Rahul in Hyderabad

“Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge will hold a big public meeting tomorrow in Jaipur and will tell the people about the manifesto. There is a great enthusiasm among the workers for tomorrow’s meeting,” Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra told reporters Friday. The meeting will be held at Jaipur’s Vidhyadhar Nagar stadium.

In context: Facing an uphill battle in the elections and struggling to win back voter confidence, the Congress has, in its manifesto, announced a raft of promises to woo the marginalised, such as lifting the 50% cap on quota for SCs, STs and OBCs in addition to pledging reservation in private educational institutions, as Manoj CG reported.

The party has outlined steps to create jobs and ensure apprenticeship, hoping those would strike a chord with the youth, even as it has offered cash doles to women besides pledging to reserve 50% of central government jobs for them.

The manifesto promises a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for farmers’ crops, cashless insurance up to 25 lakhs for universal healthcare, and offers compulsory and free education from Class I to Class XII in public schools.

The manifesto focuses on five “pillars of justice” and 25 guarantees. While unveiling it, Kharge urged everyone to have a “close look and see a “shandaar tasveer (beautiful picture)” of our country in it”. Rahul said the manifesto represents the voice of the people as it has been prepared taking into account their views and suggestions.

Recommended readings: Key takeaways from Congress manifesto

Big push for jobs, quotas, doles; focus on poor, women and marginalised

Modi in UP and Rajasthan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will Saturday address a rally and participate in a roadshow in Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh, seen to be a stronghold of the ruling BJP’s ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). He will also take part in a roadshow in Ghaziabad, a senior BJP leader said.

The PM will address a rally at around 9.30 am in support of the BJP’s Saharanpur candidate Raghav Lakhanpal and the party’s Kairana candidate Pradeep Choudhary, state party general secretary and MLC Govind Narayan Shukla said.

In the afternoon, Modi will head to Rajasthan, where he will address a public meeting in Ajmer at around 2.30 pm. At around 4 pm, Modi will be back in UP and participate in a roadshow in Ghaziabad in support of BJP candidate Atul Garg.

Shah on Assam tour

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will embark on a two-day visit to Assam from Saturday during which he will address rallies in Hojai, Lakhimpur and Gohpur, state minister Jayanta Malla Baruah said.

Baruah said he expects other senior party leaders to visit the state in the run-up to the elections keeping in mind PM Modi’s target of winning 13 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Assam will go to polls in three phases on April 19, April 26 and May 7.

BJP foundation day

The BJP will hold programmes across the country to mark its foundation day on Saturday. While events have been planned across 1.63 lakh booth offices in UP, the party has claimed that over 1 lakh new members would be inducted into its fold across Madhya Pradesh.

In Telangana, the BJP will hold “tiffin meetings”. Sources said that in view of the elections the party has asked its leaders to use the occasion to spread awareness about the Modi government’s achievements among the people.

– With PTI inputs