Congress yet to publish election manifesto

This is for the first time in the history of West Bengal elections that the Congress, which is a 131-year-old party, has not yet published the election manifesto when polls is just five days away. 

The Trinamool Congress was first to publish its election manifesto followed by the Left Front. The Congress is yet to pull up its socks. On March 9, WBPCC issued a notification urging its workers to give suggestions which would be incorporated in the manifesto.

It may be recalled that Congress stalwarts like Pranab Mukherjee and Debi Prasad Chattopadhyay were the key persons in publishing the manifesto. In 1952 when the first Lok Sabha elections was held after Independence, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had prepared the manifesto which gave the guideline that the Congress wanted to implement.

When contacted, WBPCC president Adhir Chowdhury said, “We want to end the misrule of Trinamool Congress and that is the main motto of the alliance,” he said, adding the manifesto would be published on time. The other leaders like Pradip Bhattacharya and Om Prakash Misra are silent on the issue.

Meanwhile, a statement by Congress MP AHA Khan Chowdhury that if voted to power, Suryakanta Misra would be the Chief Minister has created a flutter in both the Congress and the CPI(M). Veteran CPI(M) leader Rabin Deb said, “We are yet to select our leader. Now our only effort it to oust the Trinamool Congress.” Party insiders in the Congress said the leaders were busy to grease the palms of the CPI(M) and the issue of writing an election manifesto had taken a backseat.

Veteran Congress leaders like Abdul Mannan and Somen Mitra were campaigning to highlight the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. But this has failed to create any impact both in urban and rural areas. “We have seen how the CPI(M) used to torture our supporters and we are not going to listen to anything on the alliance,” said a veteran Congress leader in Hooghly.