Congress manifesto likely in Nov first week

​Hyderabad: The Congress manifesto for the ensuing Assembly elections may be delayed by a week or two as the party is in a dilemma over the formation of the alliance with other opposition parties. 

According to party sources, the Congress manifesto, which was supposed to be released on October 12, will now likely be released in the first week of November. Though the Manifesto Committee completed its exercise, the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) is yet to give the green signal for its release. 

Party leaders said that the Manifesto Committee received several requests from various sections of the society and it has been examining them before submitting the draft to the TPCC. 

The leaders said that the Congress was in dilemma on whether to have separate manifesto for the party or to be part of the common manifesto on behalf of the alliance.

While the Congress leaders said that they would have their own manifesto, as their party is a national organisation, partners of the alliance have been insisting on a common manifesto.

Party leaders said that the Congress would take a decision on whether to issue a separate manifesto or not after the formation of the alliance. The alliance, if formed, would be announced in the first week of November. 

The Congress formed the Manifesto Committee under the chairmanship of former deputy Chief Minister C Damodara Raja Narasimha on September 19. The committee formed sub committees to prepare a detailed manifesto. 

The Manifesto Committee received more than 500 demands from various sections. The government employees demanded announcement of PRC when party comes to power. The RTC employees requested to make promise on giving government employees status to them. 

Several caste organisations wanted separate corporations and financial assistance to them. Weavers, farmers, minority organisations and others have submitted their demands also. 

The Manifesto Committee leaders during their first meeting said that the exercise would be completed in two weeks and the draft would be submitted to the TPCC. The TPCC would release it on October 12. However, more than 12 days have passed and there is no mention of release of manifesto by the Congress so far. 

According to party leaders some of the demands of the partners of the alliance were not agreeable to the TPCC. They said that the proposal for a separate council for martyrs was not acceptable to the TPCC since it was a national party.

During the talks with the alliance partners on the common minimum programme or the common manifesto, the Congress leaders made it clear that they did not want to include demands of Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) or other partners in the manifesto.

It would be better to have separate manifesto, they told the alliance. With this the alliance leaders have decided to put away talks on the manifesto and focus their attention on seat sharing. The discussions on the seat sharing have reached a make or break stage and fate of the alliance would be decided in this week. The manifesto would come out depending on the result.