Bhopal : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have promised to give a 27% quota to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the ensuing election of civic bodies, sources said on Friday. The ruling BJP has, however, planned to move the Supreme Court to file a review petition against the apex court’s judgment asking the State Election Commission to hold the election to the civic bodies.
Giving a 27% quota to the OBC category has been a bone of contention between the two political parties and, because of this dispute, the civic polls have been pending for two years. Amidst the furore over the civic polls, the Congress has decided to issue a manifesto for the state as well as for each district separately before the 2023 assembly elections, party sources said.
A group of senior Congress leaders have asked the party cadres to make a list of issues pertaining to a particular district after an interaction with the people. Before the last assembly election in 2018, the Congress had issued a Vachan Patra (election manifesto).
It was successful, and the Congress won the elections, though it could not latch on to power because of internal squabbling. The party has decided to execute the Vachan Patra in each district this time, sources said. The Congress held a meeting, presided over by its state committee president and former chief minister Kamal Nath, with the members of the Vachan Patra Advisory Committee.
Chairman of the committee Rajendra Singh said that Nath had directed the panel members to consider aspirations of the people from different areas across the state. He also said that the panel members should study their problems and suggest solutions and, on the grounds of those suggestions, an election manifesto would be prepared.
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Nath also asked the committee members to make a report about the functioning of various government departments. Nonetheless, the Congress members should keep an eye on whether the BJP government launches any misinformation campaign, Nath said.
The committee consists of former Union ministers Suresh Pachauri and Arun Yadav, besides leader of opposition Govind Singh and others. The meeting was held at the residence of Nath at Shyamala Hills, Bhopal, Thursday evening.