Maharashtra Elections 2024: Maharashtra MP Ajit Pawar on Thursday slammed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) for its plan to provide monthly assistance of Rs 3,000 to women, calling it a “bluff”. Ajit Pawar pointed out that when the Mahayuti alliance had proposed a comparable project in the past, it was met with skepticism by the opposition parties.

The Ladki Bahin Yojana launched by the Maharashtra state government aims to provide benefits to women residents of the state. This program is designed to enhance women’s empowerment by providing financial assistance to eligible beneficiaries. Successful candidates will receive a direct transfer of Rs 1,500 to their bank account to meet their financial needs.

Ahead of Maharashtra elections, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced an increase in monthly assistance from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,100 for eligible women with annual family income of less than Rs 2 .5 lakh.

On Thursday, Ajit Pawar slammed the proposed projects, calling them a “bluff”. He highlighted the potential financial implications of these schemes, saying that providing Rs 3,000 per month to women could result in an expenditure of Rs 90,000 crore, and that giving Rs 4,000 per month to unemployed youth could cost around 45,000 crore of Rs if one lakh youth benefited.

He raised concerns over the feasibility of implementing these projects, pointing out that a total of Rs 1.5 lakh crore would be required, while the state budget is only Rs 7 lakh crore. He questioned how the government planned to manage salaries, pensions and loan interest with such a large share of the budget allocated to these schemes.

“This amount amounts to Rs 45,000 crore annually. Additionally, we announced a waiver of agricultural loans and free education. The entire expenditure amounts to Rs 75,000 crore. On the other hand, the MVA has promised Rs 3,000 per month to women, which means the annual outlay will be Rs 90,000 crore. They also announced a abolition of agricultural loans and programs… If such a huge budgetary amount has to be spent on such aid, what will be left for development work? It seems they want to spend the entire budget of Rs 7 lakh crore on allocations,” he said.

Ajit Pawar said the MVA had gone all out to block the Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana. “They criticized us for implementing the Ladki Bahin Yojana and then went to court to block the project. Now they are promising a large sum themselves,” he said.

Ajit Pawar also mentioned the RBI’s reservations regarding such projects launched by the state government, citing that the central bank assesses the state’s financial situation from its own point of view.

“That’s their opinion, because they look at the state’s finances from their perspective. We are representatives of the public and while leading a pro-people government, we must support the marginalized,” he said.

Besides increasing the monthly financial assistance of the Ladki Bahin scheme, the ruling Mahayuti alliance has also pledged to increase the annual amount of the Shetkari Sanman Nidhi scheme from Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000.

Among the party’s other commitments are the promise to generate 2.5 million job opportunities and provide monthly stipends ranging from Rs 10,000 to one million students through training programs. Further, the NCP pledges to increase the monthly salary of Anganwadi and ASHA workers to Rs 15,000, reduce electricity bills by 30% and prioritize the use of renewable energy sources. solar and renewable energy.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is contesting the upcoming general elections on November 20 as part of the Mahayuti alliance, which includes the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

On the other hand, the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance is led by Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT), along with Congress and NCP (SP) under the leadership of Sharad Pawar.