MP polls: Congress hopes to counter BJP’s Ladli Behna with student cash scheme

The Congress’ poll promise in Madhya Pradesh to provide financial assance to school students, announced Priyanka Gandhi on Thursday, is the party’s counter to chief miner Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s ambitious Ladli Behna scheme, party functionaries said. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi with Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath during a public meeting poll bound Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla drict on Thursday. (PTI) During her public meeting in tribal dominated Mandla drict on Thursday, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi assured financial assance to school students – ₹500 per month to students in Classes 1 to 8, ₹1,000 per month to those in Classes 9 and 10 and ₹1,500 per month to students of Class 11 and 12 – if the party is voted to power. The party has already promised 11 guarantees, which include ₹1,500 per month per head to women, an LPG cylinder at ₹500, old pension scheme for government employees, farmers’ loan waiver, 27% reservation to other backward classes (OBCs), no charge for first 100 units power consumption and 50% charge on 200 units etc. A senior Congress leader on condition of anonymity said, “We were fed up with chief miner Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s series of poll promises aimed at countering our schemes. He implemented the Ladli Behna scheme to provide ₹1,000 per month to women and later announced that the amount would be increased up to ₹3,000 per month. He even started giving ₹1,250 per month to women. To counter our ₹500 LPG scheme, he offered LPG for ₹450.” He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sought to create confusion in the voters’ minds that there was no guarantee that the Congress would implement its scheme to provide ₹1,500 to women whereas the BJP government had already implemented its Ladli Behna scheme, started giving ₹1,250 per month and also there was further incentive to increase the amount up to ₹3,000 per month. That’s why, he added, “The party leadership was looking for something more effective to engage the voters emotionally, rather more emotionally, with our scheme. For a mother her child is the most precious gift of God. Hence, anything planned for children in the shape of a scheme will automatically associate mothers and heads of the family with us and our schemes.” A second functionary said, “Our cash scheme for students has sprung a surprise even on the CM who had to issue a statement on Friday to denounce the scheme. However, there is something more which will be incorporated in the party’s manifesto on the employment front, another emotional issue associated with youths and their parents.” Chief miner Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday said, “(Congress state chief) Kamal Nath is cheating the Gandhi family which cheated the entire country. In 2018, Kamal Nath got false promises announced Rahul Gandhi and now in 2023 he got false guarantees announced Priyanka Gandhi.” State Congress media spokesperson Bhupendra Gupta said, “BJP stole the Congress’s apprentice training scheme (ATS) to paste the label of ‘Sikho aur Kamao’, but Kamal Nath ji’s ‘Padho and Padhao scheme’ is the plan for the future of Madhya Pradesh.” “Exciting news! Hindustan Times is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!” Click here! ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ranjan Srivastava leads HT’s coverage from Bhopal. He has spent more than two decades in journalism in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, covering political and other affairs. For the past 16 years, he has been working in Madhya Pradesh. …view detail