Congress likely to release LS poll manifesto on April 5

Congress cries foul over frozen party funds, calls it a 'criminal action’ — Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi brief the media, at AICC headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday (PTI Photo/Arun Sharma)

New Delhi: The Congress is likely to release its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections on April 5 in the presence of top leaders, including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and former party presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, sources said on Friday.

They also said that Kharge and the Gandhis are likely to address public rallies in Jaipur and Hyderabad on April 6 where they will also highlight the key elements of the Congress manifesto.

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According to the sources, the party leadership would launch the poll manifesto on April 5 at the All India Congress Committee headquarters.

The Congress’ manifesto will lay emphasis on ‘Paanch Nyay’ or five pillars of justice, including ‘Yuva Nyay’, ‘Naari Nyay’, ‘Kisaan Nyay’, ‘Shramik Nyay’ and ‘Hissedari Nyay’ as well as the guarantees made by it to the people as part of its poll promises for 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress will launch its ‘Ghar Ghar Guarantee’ campaign on April 3 under which party leaders will reach out to more than eight crore households across the country.

The campaign will focus more on social media and television and less on print and outdoor campaigning, the sources said.

The party has already launched its new slogan #HaathBadlegaHalaat — referring to the Congress’ poll symbol of hand — on social media platforms, they added.

The sources said that the party had to postpone the launch of its poll campaigns due to Income Tax notices for penalties to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore for alleged discrepancies in tax returns.

The Congress has accused the ruling BJP of indulging in “tax terrorism” and crippling it financially ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and alleged that this poses a threat to democracy and would lead to the “murder of democracy”.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leaders are likely to participate in the INDIA bloc joint rally in Delhi on March 31 to highlight the issue of the “threat to democracy” posed after tax notices to it and after the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said this is the second major INDIA group rally after Mumbai where the alleged “threat to democracy” will be highlighted.

“This will be a political rally of INDIA bloc parties meant to highlight the authoritarianism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Ramesh said.