No Manifesto for Delhi Polls, Only a Vision Document, Says BJP: Top 10 Developments

The party was scheduled to release its manifesto today, but senior leader Anant Kumar said at press conference, "There will be no manifesto. We will bring a vision document to implement PM modi and Kiran Bedi's vision."

Last evening, Ms Bedi seemed to jump the gun when she tweeted what she called "Kiran's blueprint" for Delhi, her agenda for the capital.

Party leaders said some of parts of Ms Bedi's blueprint would find its way into the vision statement which is being drafted. State president Satish Upadhyay said there is no difference between manifesto and vision document.

With only nine days left for elections, the BJP manifesto has been stuck, sources said, because senior leaders have not been able agree on the key demand of full statehood for Delhi.

While senior leaders like Dr Harsh Vardhan, who heads the BJP's manifesto committee, have reportedly favoured including that long-standing demand of the BJP in the manifesto, Kiran Bedi has indicated that she favours status quo.

The most crucial element of that demand is control of Delhi Police, which reports to the Centre. If Delhi is granted full statehood, law and order will come under the state government, which all political parties have earlier said will solve much of the capital's security problems.

Veterans in the Delhi BJP are reportedly worried that if it does not make that demand, it will be exposed to attack from rival parties Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party.

The BJP has meanwhile drafted its biggest guns for the Delhi elections, worried that Ms Bedi has not seemed to draw the kind of crowds that her main rival for the Chief Minister's post, Arvind Kejriwal of AAP, has.

BJP chief Amit Shah met top leaders, including Union Ministers, to draw up an aggressive plan for Delhi today. Sources said 120 MPs from 13 states will be drafted into the campaign for the February 7 polls.

Some 250 public meetings will be addressed by various leaders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address four rallies. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been tasked by the party to ensure that the BJP's campaign in Delhi knits together and senior state party leaders, upset at Ms Bedi being fronted, rally behind her.