Jyotiraditya Scindia finds no place in BJP’s manifesto for 28 seats going for bypolls in MP

Former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who joined BJP and was instrumental in the toppling of the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh, is missing from BJP’s manifesto released for the 28 seats in the state where bypolls are due on November 3.

The manifesto that was released on Thursday, referred to as ‘Sankalp Patra’, feature PM Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and BJP state chief Vishnu Dutta Sharma but Scindia found no place.

Interestingly, as in Bihar, BJP promised a free Corona vaccine for all in MP. The Congress reacted sharply to this, saying that the BJP was trying to milk the crisis despite being fully aware that such a vaccine has not been developed yet.

“The BJP should vaccinate people before the polling on November 3. Where is the vaccine for COVID-19? The BJP is selling dreams to people and trying to mislead them,” said state Congress spokesperson Bhupendra Gupta.

Apart from work done for the farmers, the saffron party focused on local issues in the manifesto. It promised zero per cent interest loans for farmers also.

However, the manifesto is silent on whether the party will continue the crop loan waiver scheme announced by the Kamal Nath government. The Congress’ promise of waiving crop loans of up to Rs 2 lakh is believed to be the main reason for the Congress unseating the BJP in 2018 after over 15 years.

Chouhan’s announcement of direct benefit transfer (DBT) of Rs 4,000 to the beneficiaries of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi also finds mention in the ‘Sankalp Patra’.