File photo of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.
The date of release of the Congress party's manifesto for the coming Lok Sabha polls has been deferred by a week. It was initially scheduled to be unveiled tomorrow by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, but it is believed that the party is yet to complete the process of collecting inputs for the document from the stakeholders in the country's development.
According to sources, the manifesto has three focus areas - First, the social agenda and how to take it forward including universal health care for all. Second, the economic agenda and job creation and how it plans to create jobs as well as make India a hub for manufacturers. Third, national security.
The manifesto committee is headed by defence minister AK Antony, but Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, in a break from the past, had in February declared that the process of prepping the manifesto would be made transparent, and that it would be drafted only after speaking to representatives of various interest groups.
He has so far spoken to representatives of women and youth organizations, farmers' bodies, industry, commerce, street-vendors, minority and tribal groups, rickshaw-pullers and autorickshaw-drivers in an attempt to solicit their views.
The Congress vice-president, in his interactions across the country, has focused on issues relating to women, farmers, youth, minorities and tribals. He has, in his speeches, stressed on the rights-based approach pursued by the UPA government in the past 10 years, and there are indications the manifesto would seek its extension to other areas.