BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Revenue Minister Karan Singh Verma, one of the senior-most ministers of the Dr Mohan Yadav-led government, has sparked back-to-back controversies due to his public statements in the last two days.
While it was his statement about the beneficiaries of the CM Ladli Behna Scheme that kicked up a row on Thursday, the BJP veteran’s remarks about corruption in the State triggered fresh controversy on Friday.
Expressing displeasure over the low turnout of women at the inauguration of the health and wellness centre in his constituency of Sehore district on Thursday, the minister said, “As many as 894 Ladli Behnas are getting Rs 1500 monthly from the government, but how many of them have actually come here?”
While highlighting that the women did not get even a single penny during the Congress rule, Verma said he would ask the chief executive officer (CEO) to call all beneficiaries (Ladli Behnas) on a specific day.
"We’ll send a report from here to cut the names of all those who don’t come. If you’re taking money from someone, you should at least acknowledge it,” he said.
With the Opposition Congress launching a scathing attack on the minister’s statement, accusing the minister and the BJP of exploiting the beneficiaries to fill crowds, the minister clarified on Friday, “Firstly, I haven’t said anything to hurt the sentiments of women; my words seem to have been distorted. Still, if something was uttered accidentally, I regret it. This is Dr Mohan Yadav’s regime; no one can even think of deleting the names of beneficiaries. I was in my assembly constituency on Thursday, where I invited the 800-plus women (Ladli Behna Scheme beneficiaries) for lunch to educate them on how they could become lakhpati.”
While he tried to play down the controversy generated by his Thursday statement, he sparked a fresh controversy on Friday by admitting that there was corruption in the State.
“A little bit of corruption takes place everywhere, whether you make a corrupt person a minister, a collector or even a labourer, that person will indulge in corruption. A few days back, the State’s chief secretary too had stated that no work gets done in the State without money. I've even suspended tehsildars in multiple districts, including Sehore, Rajgarh and Seoni for indulging in corruption.”
Importantly, it’s not the first time that a minister of the MP government has made controversial remarks about the beneficiaries of the Ladli Behna Scheme.
Just a few weeks back, in December 2025, the State’s senior cabinet minister Kunwar Vijay Shah was caught on camera in an official meeting in Ratlam district, saying, “The district has 2.5 lakh Ladli Behna Scheme beneficiaries, at least 50,000 of them should come forward to honour the State’s chief minister for the completion of two years in power. We should plan an event where the Ladli Behnas would honour the CM."
"When the government is giving crores of rupees at a Rs 1500 monthly rate to each of the beneficiaries, then honouring the CM at least once in two years is justifiable. Plan an event where the Ladli Behnas would honour the CM in the new year. We will arrange food for them. Those who don’t come, we will then see what happens to them. Such beneficiaries would be investigated; if someone’s Aadhar isn’t linked, their application will be put on hold,”
