Lok Janshakti Party Chief and MP Chirag Paswan ( Picture credit: ANI )

NEW DELHI: In a bid to break the convention when it comes to election strategies, Lok Janshakti Party will release its manifesto or vision document on April 12, nearly six months before assembly polls are scheduled in Bihar.

LJP chief Chirag Paswan , who is trying to invoke Bihari pride by launching a ‘Bihar First Bihari First’ campaign in the state, told TOI that manifestos should be the centre of a campaign, not caste or religion.

“Political parties should come out with their manifesto quickly so that elections are fought on developmental issues rather than caste and religion. We saw in Delhi how the entire campaign centred around religion and caste. We can’t blame people as they don’t come to know about the manifesto. How can they weigh options when parties release manifestos just days before polling? In some cases, manifestos are released after one round of nominations are filed,” the LJP supremo said.

The second time MP from Jamui claimed that the main intention behind his new campaign is to revive the pride of the state and its people against the present bad perception of ‘Bihari’ as a derogatory remark. Though sources said LJP is targeting a bigger role for its young chief by 2025 and the ground work has begun with this campaign, Chirag said the main aim of this initiative is to bring the development agenda to the forefront during the election.

Claiming that the campaign is not merely for elections, he said, “It’s our aim to push development in the state. Since Independence several states have grown, but we have been lagging behind. This has been a matter of concern for us. The CM has done a lot by building a solid base. But we need to make it number one. We will come out with a complete road map; we need work across all sectors — health, education, law and order and infrastructure.”

He added the campaign will reach out to all sections of the society and put greater focus on students and professionals such as doctors, lawyers, middle class, service class and farmers.

