New Delhi: The central leadership of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a tactical move has decided to go to the upcoming Bihar polls by releasing a vision document instead of the customary manifesto.

A decision to this effect was taken at the party’s empowered election committee meeting headed by BJP president Amit Shah, who is actively monitoring the party’s progress in Bihar.

The BJP is aiming to win a majority on its own in Bihar for the first time, though it shared power as a junior partner to chief minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) for nearly eight years until the two parties parted ways in 2013.

The BJP is contesting 160 seats in the 243-seat Bihar legislative assembly elections while the remaining 83 seats have been allocated to its three regional allies.

“The vision document is almost ready and is being discussed with the leaders of our allies. We should release it very soon,” a central office bearer of the party said.

It will the third time that the BJP has given the customary manifesto a miss and gone to the polls with a vision document ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister 16 months ago.

The BJP experimented with a vision document with mixed results in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi. While it emerged the second largest party in the hung Jammu and Kashmir assembly and now shares power as junior ally to chief minister Mufti Sayeed’s People’s Democratic Party, the party met with embarrassment in Delhi with the Aam Aadmi Party winning 67 seats in the 70-seat assembly while the BJP won just three.

A vision document is essentially a common minimum programme that first came into vogue after the minority congress party-led United Progressive Front came to power in 2004. The common minimum programme was worked out in lieu of the crucial outside support to the Manmohan Singh government. The BJP has of late been frequently resorting to a vision document as a substitute for a manifesto.

“Compared to a lengthy manifesto, a vision document is a focused document with no ambiguity. It is easier for voters to read and remember,” the BJP leader said.

One of the reasons for the BJP to skip a manifesto and resort to a vision document may be to push some of its core ideological issues under the carpet. It cannot skirt its commitment to a pro-Hindu agenda and ideology in a manifesto. And mentioning it in a manifesto may turn away secular and minority voters, who of late have started voting for BJP, away.

The proposed vision document for Bihar will save its three Bihar allies, namely the Lok Janshakti Party, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha, which are contesting 40, 23 and 20 seats respectively from certain embarrassment if the BJP rakes up its pro-Hindu agenda in sensitive but politically crucial state Bihar.

“It will be a combined document of all four NDA parties in Bihar and the guiding force if we are voted to power,” the BJP leader said.

The five-phased Bihar polls get under way with voting scheduled to take place on October 12 for the first phase.