The BJP on Sunday released its manifesto for the Panchayati Raj elections in Rajasthan, the first time the party has issued a manifesto for the rural local polls. Titled the Gram Vikas Sankalp Patra, it was released by Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma at the BJP state headquarters ahead of the panchayat elections, which will be held from October 22 to November 16. The party promised development works worth about 5 crore rupees in every gram panchayat over five years, along with health facilities and higher secondary schools.

Promises for farmers and villages

Under its agriculture-related promises, the BJP said annual assistance to farmers under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi would be raised to 12,000 rupees, and wheat would be procured at 2,700 rupees per quintal by giving a bonus over the minimum support price. The manifesto also pledged daytime electricity supply for agricultural irrigation in all districts, drinking water connections for every rural household, and agricultural equipment rental centres in every gram panchayat in phases.

On rural infrastructure, the party promised to spend more than 9,000 crore rupees on constructing 19,000 kilometres of missing-link roads and to build more than 3,000 kilometres of rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

Focus on women

For women, the Sankalp Patra promised loans of up to 1.5 lakh rupees at an annual interest rate of 1.5 per cent for Lakhpati Didis through the Rajasthan Mahila Nidhi, along with special efforts to bring 25 lakh women into the Lakhpati Didi category. The monthly pension for eligible widowed and abandoned women would be increased to 1,500 rupees, while assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana would be raised from 5,000 to 8,000 rupees. Healthcare facilities in every gram panchayat completed a document the party pitched as its blueprint for rural Rajasthan.

Party leaders said the document reflected a shift in the BJP’s approach to rural polls, treating gram panchayats as a serious battleground rather than a second-order contest. State leaders expressed confidence that the Sankalp Patra would carry the party’s development message to the booth level across rural Rajasthan.