LS polls
Mamata Banerjee's TMC manifesto promises 10 free LPG cylinders, 5 kg free ration, no CAA
Kolkata/IBNS: Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress Wednesday released its manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha election and vowed like the Congress, the DMK, and other members of the INDIA opposition bloc have, to repeal changes to the citizenship law if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP is defeated.
TMC, Bengal's ruling party, seen as part of the INDIA bloc despite failed seat-sharing talks with the Congress-led group, is contesting alone in the eastern state.
Releasing its manifesto, the party made other big-ticket promises, including 10 free LPG (cooking gas) cylinders every year to below-poverty-line families and five kg of free rations (rice, wheat, and grains) monthly.
It also vowed to support farmers in the MSP, or minimum support price row, which led to a months-long confrontation including a blockade around Delhi in 2020, and a second round of protests by farmers against the Centre this year.
Photo courtesy: AITC
The Trinamool has said it will set this price in sync with the MS Swaminathan Commission's recommendations and "at least 50 percent higher than the average cost of production".
On petrol and diesel prices, the TMC said it will be "capped at affordable levels" and a price stabilisation fund would be set up to handle future fluctuations in what is a volatile international market.
Mamata Banerjee's party has also promised 100 days of guaranteed work to all job card holders, and that all registered workers, nationwide, will now get Rs. 400 per day.
Reaching out to students, the manifesto has promised to triple the number of higher education scholarships for marginalised sections including the Other Backward Classes, and Scheduled Castes and Tribes communities.
For senior citizens (over 60 years), the existing pension scheme will be overhauled. They will now get Rs. 1,000 per month. "Dignified housing" has been guaranteed for all poor families in the country.
"These are the promises which we will fulfil as part of (the) INDIA bloc, when it forms the next government," outgoing Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien said during the launch event in Kolkata.
The manifesto was released as Mamata Banerjee launched a sharp attack on the BJP while campaigning for her party's candidate in Assam's Silchar. A fierce critic of the saffron party, she offered a chilling warning to voters everywhere, saying, "This election is going to be scary..."
The manifesto released as the country gears up for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on Friday.
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