The Madhya Pradesh unit of the Congress party on Sunday said that if it wins in the upcoming assembly polls, women in the state will receive a monthly aid of Rs 1,500 and cooking gas cylinders will be available for Rs 500. This announcement was made by the state Congress president, Kamal Nath, who criticized Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for making empty promises to maintain his hold on power. Nath said that Chouhan is making a slew of hollow promises before the polls, but the Congress party will deliver on its pledges, reported news agency PTI.
CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan had previously launched the 'Ladli Behna Yojana', which offers Rs 1,000 in monthly assistance to women whose family income is less than 2.5 lakh per annum. Nath stated that if the Congress party takes power, it will increase the aid to Rs 1,500 per month and reduce the cooking cylinder price to Rs 500 from over Rs 1,100.
According to PTI, Madhya Pradesh has 2,60,23,733 women voters, outnumbering male voters in at least 18 of the 230 Assembly segments, including tribal-dominated Balaghat, Mandla, Dindori, Alirajpur, and Jhabua districts. The number of new women voters has risen by 2.79 per cent, while it is 2.30 per cent for male voters.
After the 2018 Assembly elections, the Congress won 114 seats in the 230-member House and formed a coalition government under Nath. However, the Nath government fell in March 2020 when several MLAs loyal to then Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia defected to BJP, paving the way for Shivraj Singh Chouhan to return as the chief minister.
Both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress are trying to woo women voters in the state, with polls due later this year. Nath said the people of the state want a change and are eager to vote for Congress overwhelmingly to end Chouhan's political career.
(With inputs from PTI)