New Delhi/Ahmedabad, Dec 3 (ANI): Asserting that the Congress was fighting the Gujarat assembly elections to emerge victorious, Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar on Monday informed that top leaders of the ruling party at the Centre would campaign in the poll-bound state in the days to come.
"As far as our campaign is concerned, let me tell you that we are going to put our very best foot forward in the campaign. Our top leaders will be visiting Gujarat. The timing of course has to be decided keeping into view a number of considerations. Make no mistake that we are fighting the elections in Gujarat to win," he said.
The Congress, which is looking to set up its game in Narendra Modi-ruled Gujarat, is leaving no stones unturned in garnering public attention ahead of the polls. The party's move to announce suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt's wife Shweta Bhatt as its candidate from Maninagar is a step ahead in that direction.
Shweta Bhatt will lock horns with Modi in Gujarat's Maninagar assembly seat.
According to reports, Congress President Sonia Gandhi is expected to campaign in Gujarat by the end of this week.
The Law Minister also lashed out the Bharatiya Janata Party's poll manifesto for Gujarat, which votes on December 13 and 17.
"The only question that anyone can ask of the Chief Minister of Gujarat is that anyone trained in the first principles of economics knows that middle classes are an upward movement phenomena, from the lower middle classes people move up," said Kumar.
"The fact of the matter is that Gujarat has the most dismal record of malfunction, rural education, sanitation and this was communicated to the chief minister of Gujarat when he came for the plan discussions in the Planning Commission. I had myself communicated this to the chief minister," he added.
Meanwhile, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury commenting on Modi's manifesto for the upcoming assembly polls said 'promises are part of the election manifestos'.
"The important thing is which of these will be kept and by whom, so that the elections will decide," he added.
Modi, who released the BJP's manifesto for the state assembly elections in Ahmedabad, earlier in the day said that it is a blueprint for development of all sections of the society.
The BJP's manifesto in poll-bound Gujarat promises to address the problems of urban and rural housing, water, and irrigation apart from resolving farmers' issues.
In its manifesto, the BJP has promised greater job opportunities for over 30 lakh youth of the state if it is voted back to power.
It also promises to set up new speciality hospitals in Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and North Gujarat.
The party also promised to double the electricity output and assured farmers of cheaper loans. The manifesto said that in the next five years 16 lakh hectares of land would be irrigated.
The manifesto also talks about women empowerment, e-governance, urban and rural development, IT, new energy sources, development in adivasi-dominated areas, Dalit and neglected sections, wetland development, wind energy, promotion of ayurveda medicine, among other things.
Top BJP leaders, including Arun Jaitley shared stage with Modi, who is looking at a third consecutive term at the helm in Gujarat, during the unveiling of manifesto. (ANI)
