Sonia Gandhi expected to release Cong manifesto on 26 March

New Delhi: The much-talked-about Congress manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls will be out on 26 March.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is expected to release the manifesto at a function at the AICC headquarters here in the presence of top party leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi, a senior party figure said.

Sonia Gandhi. PTI

The manifesto is likely to promise new rights-based laws for health and employment besides devoting focus to employment generation and the manufacturing sector.

The party's manifesto committee, headed by AK Antony, recently gave final touches to the document.

The manifesto has been prepared after "exhaustive consultations" with different stakeholders, including through the direct interaction of a number of groups with Rahul.

Besides Antony, other members of the panel are Sushilkumar Shinde, P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Salman Khurshid, Sandeep Dikshit, Ajit Jogi, Renuka Chowdhary, PL Punia, Mohan Gopal, Jairam Ramesh and Digvijay Singh.

With the party making the rights-based legislation like MGNREGA, Food Security and RTI its key campaign themes, Congress is expected to stress on the health and employment sectors as its major planks for the upcoming polls.

With the issue of women's security also coming to the fore, the party received a number of suggestions like making a provision for at least six women police stations in all districts, etc.

There was a recommendation to provide 20 per cent reservation in police and the judiciary for women. It is learnt that Mahila Congress has already submitted a set of suggestions in that regard.

The party is also aiming at introducing some kind of affirmative action in the private sector given that government jobs are drying up in the post-liberalisation period.

The Congress poll document is likely to unveil the party's goal to create 100 million new jobs for the youth by 2020.

Rahul's push to provide some kind of minimum financial security for the 70 crore people who occupy the layer between middle class and those falling below poverty line will also find concrete formulation in the manifesto.

Party sources have indicated that Congress would have a sub-manifesto for different sections of society. A good part of the manifesto will be about the measures to fight corruption as well as legal and judicial reforms.

PTI