Thursday, January 20 2005 14:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ranchi: The BJP's (Bharatiya Janata Party) manifesto, released today (Jan 20, 2005), pledged 60 per cent budget allocation for agriculture and village development and to set in motion 'Ratnakar Programme' to put an end to extremism in Jharkhand.

Releasing the manifesto for the first-ever Assembly elections in the State, the BJP's general secretary, Rajnath Singh, said that the focus of the party would be on farmers as it believes that growth of all sectors are directly linked to agriculture.

If voted back to power, he said, a commission for agriculture would be set up to formulate a comprehensive plan to increase farm production within one year.

Efforts would also be made to minimise corruption, dispose of all pending cases by setting up special courts, and make vigilance department accountable.

The party would invite people's participation in administrative affairs and give incentives to people and promotion to those Government employees exposing corruption.

To tackle extremism, the manifesto chose to set up 'Ratnakar Programme', a character in the epic Ramayana who transformed himself into Valmiki after giving up thuggery, to bring Naxalites to the mainstream.

Saying that the BJP would go into the root of extremism, the manifesto offered conditional peace talks with the banned outfits.