Kerala elections: BJP releases manifesto, big promises of Rs 3,000 pension, AIIMS, Sabarimala

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday released its manifesto for the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections with party president Nitin Nabin unveiling a slew of welfare promises, infrastructure projects and temple-related measures in the state.In a major announcement, the NDA party promised to provide a monthly welfare pension of Rs 3,000 to poor women, widows and senior citizens above 70 years of age. It also announced 20,000 liters of free water per month to every household in Kerala.

As part of the welfare outreach, the manifesto said poor families will receive two free LPG cylinders every year, one each during Onam and Christmas. It also promised to issue Bhakshya Arogya Suraksha cards to poor women, which can be recharged with Rs 2,500 per month for medicines and groceries.On the development front, the BJP has promised to build AIIMS for Kerala and build a high-speed rail network connecting Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur.The manifesto also focuses on temple management and Sabarimala. “We will protect Sabarimala, Guruvayoor and all other places of worship by revamping the Devaswom Committee to increase devotees’ participation in temple management,” the statement said.It also promised a time-bound CBI probe into the Sabarimala gold theft case to end corruption.The party also said it would launch the ‘Sabarimala Infrastructure Development Mission’ to undertake massive devotee-centric infrastructure development at the hilltop shrine.Kerala will go to single-phase voting on April 9 and counting of votes will be on May 4. The state has 140 parliamentary seats. Left leader Pinarayi Vijayan has been chief minister since 2016, leading the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.