Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): With eyes on the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls slated this year, Congress leader Kamal Nath on Monday announced to provide a monthly aid of Rs 1,500 for women and LPG cylinders at a subsidised price to each household if the party comes to power in the state.
Kamal Nath said that the party will provide money to women under the Nari Samman Yojana, which comes in line with the party's poll promise in Karnataka where Congress in its manifesto has vowed to give Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family.
Nath will launch the 'Nari Samman Yojana' in Chhindwara on May 9. According to sources, the Congress party has prepared the Yojana to counter the Bhartiya Janata Party's 'Ladli Bahana Yojana' under which every woman gets Rs 1,000 per month.
Speaking to ANI, Nath said, "Inflation is high and the women are most affected by it. We have decided to give Rs 1,500 per month under Nari Samman Yojana to them for their self-reliance and LPG cylinder at Rs 500 when our government is formed in the state." Nath said that he would launch the scheme on May 9 aiming to provide Rs 1,500 to women and LPG at Rs 500 to every household.
"We will try to give benefits to as many women as possible. All our sisters are most affected by inflation. There are atrocities against women in the state. Today Madhya Pradesh is number one in women atrocities," Nath alleged.
The former chief minister also targeted CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and alleged that the BJP leader did not do enough for women during his tenure in office and has now launched a scheme for them to lure them.
"CM Chouhan did not think about women for the last 18 years, but when the elections are around the corner, he came to give a temptation. The LPG cylinder which used to be of Rs 400-500 is now of Rs 1,100. On one hand, you (CM Chouhan) are talking about giving Rs 1,000 to women and on the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party is imposing inflation for them," he said.
When asked whether the public will suffer the burden of such a scheme (Nari Samman Yojana) in debt-ridden Madhya Pradesh, Nath said that the party has made calculations before the announcement of the scheme.
"The BJP has taken a loan of about Rs 3.5 lakh crore. What was the use of this loan? Did he (CM Chouhan) use the money for our ASHAs, our contract teachers and our guest teachers? Or used it to give big contracts, so that their commission will be generated. This is not our point of view, we have announced this after doing a full calculation. We will be able to give it to them, and we have decided how our cash flow will be made," he said.
Nath said that the people of Madhya Pradesh remember the promises Congress made earlier which the party "started to fulfil" when it was in government for nearly 15 months before it fell in March 2020.
"The people of Madhya Pradesh know the promise we had made. In our 15 months of government, we started to fulfil them. We waived the loan of 27 lakh farmers in the first instalment. We implemented Rs 100 for 100 units of electricity and many other things were done, there is no need to go into it. I have full faith in the people of Madhya Pradesh. The people of the state are my witnesses," former CM claimed.
On the other hand, State Home Minister Narottam Mishra hit back at Congress' Nari Samman Yojana and alleged that the party will cheat the women of the state.
"Earlier, they (Congress) cheated the farmers and now they are going to cheat the women," he said.
