BJP manifesto delayed again, leaders yet to finish Modi's changes

The release of the manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which beat all others in the fray to announcing their PM candidate and on hitting the campaign trail, continues to be delayed. The latest reason cited is that PM-candidate Narendra Modi has suggested some last-minute fine-tuning to the document, but senior leaders including manifesto committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi have been unable to meet and complete the final touches. According to a report in The Hindustan Times, the delay is now causing the party some embarrassment, with the first phase of voting only days away. To add to it, the “logistical problems” are now challenging with party managers trying to match the availability of various senior leaders who are on the campaign trail or are filing their nomination papers this week or have other election-related responsibilities. The release function of the manifesto was to have been held on Thursday. The party, however, managed to release a “Delhi-specific” manifesto on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_1456721” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Awaiting the manifetso release. Reuters[/caption] Meanwhile, the long-awaited ‘Vision Document’ of the Bharatiya Janata Party, envisioned by the top brass as a medium-term party action plan for the next ten years, drafted by a team led by former president Nitin Gadkari, may have been quietly put on the backburner. As reported by _Firstpost_ earlier , the reason being cited was the document’s overtly aggressive stance on the economy, especially on labour reform and public sector unit reform, issues, that it was believed, could directly impact voter sentiment. Spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman was quoted as saying the party was currently focused on releasing its “chargesheet against the UPA” and the manifesto, the other two documents the BJP has been working on.