Published by Govt in Delhi, sent to Gujarat BJP for some publicity

The pocketbooks, which highlight the ‘‘achievements’’ of the NDA government, have point-wise briefs on subjects such as economy, defence, home affairs, agriculture and other sectors.

While both the English and Hindi versions are identical, the only difference lies in the forewords.

The English version brought out by the External Affairs Ministry has an introduction by Yashwant Sinha, while P Ravishanker has done the honours for the Hindi version.

Said Shashi Ranjan Yadav, BJP media convenor for Ahmedabad: ‘‘We have received the pocketbooks from the Central party office. These will be sent to all the 33 party offices in the State so that district presidents, general secretaries and media convenors can make use of them.’’

Asked how the party could use pocketbooks published at the Central Government’s expense when the code of conduct is in force, Yadav said: ‘‘The pocketbooks are strictly for internal consumption of party members. We use these booklets to create awareness of the development work done by the party in the last five years. Party workers will read this literature and prepare publicity material. Talking points from these pocketbooks will be picked up and party workers will talk about these issues to voters.’’

State BJP president Rajendrasinh Rana, however, denied any knowledge of these. ‘‘I am not aware of such pocketbooks. We strictly use party publications.’’

The pocketbooks describe India as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, of bank rates being lowest since 1973, of rising exports and of infrastructural development of Rs 50,000 crore.

Under the subject of home affairs, the pocket book highlights issues like the ememrgence of three new states in 2000, reduction in communal and caste violence but says the tragic events in Gujarat 2002 were an aberration.

The booklets have statistics on the status of employment generation, forex reserves, food production, milk production and improved urban infrastructure.