The Hindu : Manifesto getting ready: Gehlot

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Sunday, Aug 24, 2003

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Manifesto getting ready: Gehlot

By Our Staff Correspondent

JAIPUR AUG. 23. The Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, has said the Congress manifesto for the coming Assembly elections in the State was being prepared at two levels -- within the State and by the party's high command.

A committee headed by senior Congress leader, Manmohan Singh, was examining the issues to be incorporated into the manifesto.

Talking informally to reporters in the Assembly premises on Friday, Mr. Gehlot said all care would be taken to maintain the "highest credibility'' of promises made in the manifesto. "The Congress-led Government has fulfilled all major promises made in its 1998 election manifesto,'' he said while pointing out that its copy was given to the Chief Secretary for it to be treated as the guidebook for governance.

Referring to the debate on no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha, Mr. Gehlot said the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and his Cabinet colleagues had not replied to even one of the nine charges levelled by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi.

There was also no specific reply to the issues raised by other Opposition parties, he added.

``This attitude of the BJP betrays its fascist tendency,'' Mr. Gehlot observed in a strongly-worded remark and added that the people of the country would demand a convincing reply from the BJP on the issues spelt out by Congress.

Asked about his stand on the demand for enacting an employment guarantee law, Mr. Gehlot said the initiative should come from the Centre as otherwise it would lead to wasteful duplication of schemes.

"As of now, no State Government is in a position to implement an employment guarantee scheme,'' he said, but pointed out that the foodgrain supplied by the Centre could be utilised for it.

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