"BRS's manifesto worthless, BJP to win Telangana": Prakash Javadekar

NEW DELHI: Hours after the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) released its manifesto for the upcoming Telangana Assembly polls, former Union minister and the BJP's in-charge for the polls, Prakash Javadekar, on Sunday said the party's manifesto was worthless adding that his party will win the elections and the Congress will finish third.

In its manifesto for the November 30 elections, the BRS promised to provide LPG cylinders at Rs 400 each and increase financial assistance under the 'Rythu Bandhu' investment support scheme for farmers if voted back.

The ruling party added that it will raise the social security pension if elected again. Responding to the poll pledges of the ruling party, Javadekar said, "The manifesto released by the BRS party is completely worthless. The party had said that it would give Rs 10 lakh to all the Dalits in the state but till now, only some Dalits have received the promised dole, after a 30 per cent commission for ruling party leaders. They promised to give land to Dalits and Adivasis but failed to live up to them."

"They talked of filling 10 lakh job vacancies but that promise has also not been fulfilled. Unemployed youths were promised an allowance of Rs 3000 but the same has not yet been translated into action. Hence, their promises ring hollow and nobody would believe them. The BJP is poised to win the Telangana elections while the Congress will finish third," Javadekar added.

However, according to sources, replacing Bandi Sanjay with G Kishan Reddy as the party's state president may hurt the BJP's prospects in the polls. The party had been gaining strength and extending its footprints in a state, where it had hitherto been an outlier, as long as Bandi Sanjay was the BJP chief, the sources said, adding, however, that the party still hopes to secure over 60 seats in the 119-member Telangana Assembly.

Further, according to sources, the BJP will release its first list of candidates on October 18. "The screening of candidates in the state has already been completed. The BJP's Central Election Committee, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and also including party president JP Nadda and Union Minister Amit Shah, will meet on October 17," a source said.

At the meeting, the top party panel will only discuss candidates belonging to Telangana. Earlier on Sunday, Nadda held a meeting with the party's state election in-charge, Javadekar.

At the meeting, the discussions centered around the prevailing situation in the state, the Congress's first list, the BRS manifesto, and the BJP's list of candidates. The counting of votes for all five poll-bound states, including Telangana, will take place on December 3.