BJP, Congress battle for women votes, offer sops in election-bound MP

BHOPAL: In the battle for the crucial 48 per cent women vote in the year-end Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, the Opposition Congress has countered the BJP government’s ambitious Rs 1,000 monthly support for financially weak women Laadli Behna Scheme with twin promises.

“The BJP government says it will give Rs 1,000 monthly, but once our government is back in the state, Rs 1,500 will be given monthly to women in the state. And that’s not all as we’ll also give cooking gas LPG cylinders for just Rs 500 each,” former chief minister and state Congress president Kamal Nath announced at a public rally in Narsinghpur district on Sunday. Nath is on a tour of the Narsinghpur district and the adjoining Chhindwara district.

Nath wondered how just Rs 1,000 monthly support will help women amid rising prices. “Not just that but several conditions have been imposed in the Rs 1,000 monthly scheme of Shivraj Singh Chouhan....”

Another former chief minister and Congress MP Digvijaya Singh in his native Guna district too made light of the recently launched scheme. “It’s the same government that is even taking away refrigerators and television sets of Laadli Behnas on failure to pay the electricity bills. Just wait and watch, the BJP will also get houses of Laadli Behnas confiscated in future,” Singh said.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on March 5 launched Rs 1,000 monthly support Laadli Bahana Scheme for married, widowed, divorced and abandoned women aged between 23 years and 60 years.

Cong counters BJP, promises Rs 1.5k per month 

Opposition Congress has countered the BJP government’s ambitious Rs 1,000 monthly support for financially weak women Laadli Behna Scheme with twin promises. It also promised cooking gas LPG cylinders for just Rs 500 each, stating that BJP’s Rs 1k wouldn’t suffice for women.