BJP likely to release election manifesto on Sunday

New Delhi, April 4 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to release its election manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls on April 7, the same date when it had released its manifesto in 2014, sources said on Thursday.The sources said all the prominent BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party President Amit Shah, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who also heads the 20-member manifesto committee, and several Union Ministers will be present on the occasion.Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, Arun Jaitley, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan are the other members of the manifesto committee.The party had launched a mega drive to seek views from 10 crore people for its manifesto named "Sankalp Patra" for the coming Lok Sabha elections, asserting that it would ensure inclusive growth.A total of 15 sub-committees were also constituted to work on the 2019 "Sankalp Patra".In 2014, the BJP had released its manifesto only on the first day of the nine-phase polling on April 7. However, this time the Election Commission has issued an order that no party can release its manifesto within 48 hours of polling during the seven-phase elections starting April 11.
--IANS bns/arm