Running against tide, Jaswant promises to halt Thar Express in

Expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who is contesting from Rajasthan's Barmer Lok Sabha seat as an Independent, has promised the voters to bring in development, strengthen communal harmony and a halt of Jodhpur-Karachi Thar Express in Barmer.
Singh, in his election manifesto released yesterday, has said if he wins the upcoming elections then efforts will be taken to make this weekly cross-border train service daily.
Local residents having family or business ties with Pakistan have to go to Jodhpur, about 200 kms from here, to board the cross-border train. The people here want a halt of the train in Barmer to get easy access, the manifesto states.

Singh, a former Union minister who decided to contest the polls as an Independent after being denied party ticket, had said, in a release yesterday, that he wanted to contest his last election from his home turf so that he can do maximum welfare work for the people of the constituency.
He said he would give priority at strengthening communal harmony in the region, and would work towards bringing in benefits of oil refinery project to the region.
Efforts will also be taken to provide commercial air connectivity, finish work of the Rajasthan canal project so as to make drinking water available to the people here as soon as possible, and to set up a camel research center in Barmer, the manifesto states.

Singh said several works have to be done for development of Barmer and he would make all efforts to ensure growth and development in the area.
Singh is pitted against BJP's Sonaram Choudhary, a former Congress legislator who recently joined the party, and Congress candidate and sitting MP Harish Choudhary.