Congress to give final shape to manifesto for LS polls, to focus on justice

The Congress is likely to wind up internal deliberations for giving final shape to the party manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and is likely to come up with some innovative measures like an apprenticeship scheme to deal with unemployment.

The party's manifesto committee, which is headed by former finance minister P. Chidambaram and has senior leaders like Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Shashi Tharoor and Anand Sharma, among others, is likely to wind up discussions on the manifesto on Tuesday.

The key members of the panel met at the party headquarters on Tuesday afternoon and gave final shape to the document. The key members of the panel also met here on Monday.

"The committee will hold the last round of talks before finalising the party manifesto today and will make its final recommendations," a sources said.

The 50-page document will be presented before the party top leadership and then the Congress Working Committee for final approval.

Among those who participated in the discussions on Tuesday include Chidambaram and Tharoor, minority chief head Imran Pratapgarhi, Ranjeet Ranjan and Gurdeep Sappal.

Sources said the party manifesto will focus on empowering youth, women, the poor and farmers. They added the party is mulling a plan to tackle the menace of paper leaks and is likely to present its vision for bringing about transparency in government recruitments.

The 16-member panel includes Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and former union minister Jairam Ramesh while former Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister TS Singh Deo is its convenor.

After raising the issues of unemployment and price rise in a big way ahead of the polls, the Congress may announce an apprenticeship scheme for the youth on the lines of those in some developed countries.

The thrust of the manifesto is likely to be on the 5-nyay (five pillars of justice) promised by the Congress during party leader Rahul Gandhi-led 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra'.

The party would also focus on giving legal guarantee to minimum support price and promising a caste-based census in the country for filling up the government vacancies.

The Congress is likely to give a thrust to some welfare measures like providing financial assistance to marginalised sections of the society and ensuring that they get justice and be part of the state welfare measures.

This comes after the Congress promises made to the people helped the party get into power in states like Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh recently.