The manifesto, called as 'Drishti Patra' or vision document, was released by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at the state BJP headquarters in Bhopal. (Twitter screengrab | @BJP4MP)

Bhopal: In a role reversal, BJP attempted to steer clear of Hindutva agenda in its poll manifesto declared for election-bound Madhya Pradesh on Saturday by focusing on populist measures.

The party has promised BJP bonus to farmers, free two-wheeler to meritorious girl students and jobs to ten lakh unemployed youths,if returned to power in MP for fourth time in a row in the November 28 assembly polls. The party’s manifesto also focused on ‘development’ to give boost to its key poll plank “prosperous Madhya Pradesh”, promised by the party if returned to power in the state.

This was in sharp contrast to the soft Hindutva card played by Congress by promising to establish “Gaushalas” or cowsheds in all 23,600 panchayats in the state, undertake commercial production of “Gau mutra” or cattle urine and cow dung, and build ‘Ram Gaman Path”, a mythical route taken by Lord Rama during his 14-year-exile in Chitrakoot region in MP in its election manifesto released last week.

The BJP poll manifesto released by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley promised bonus on particular crops produced by 23 lakh small farmers in the state. The party also promised to develop “agriculture development corridor” in the line of Industrial development corridor in the state to provide market links to the farmers.

The BJP manifesto also announced to develop a dedicated port in a coastal state to export produce of farmers of MP.

The party promised to create ten lakhs jobs for unemployed youths every year, besides creating self-employment opportunities for them.

The party has promised to provide two-wheeler ‘Scooty’ to each girl student who scores more than 75 percent in annual examinations free of cost.

Similarly, all women-self help groups (SHGs) would be provided interest-free loans up to Rs 20 lakh.

The party promised to spend Rs two lakh crore in development of infrastructure in the state and build Narmada Expressway and Chambal Expressway along the two major rivers of the state.

The only promise having religious tone made in the manifesto was development of “Kshripra Heritage Board” for development and preservation of religious places in the state.

“Our manifesto has focused on provision of roti, kapada, makan (food, clothe, house) and jobs to every family in the state, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who was present on the occasion said.