The Maharashtra government is planning to introduce a scheme similar to Madhya Pradesh's 'Ladli Behna' program to appeal to women voters before the upcoming Assembly elections scheduled for later this year. Uddhav Thackeray, the chief of Shiv Sena (UBT), expressed his support for this initiative on Thursday and urged that a similar scheme should be implemented for men.Â
"As the government plans to introduce various welfare schemes, one of which is the Ladli Behna scheme similar to the one in Madhya Pradesh, I welcome it and suggest that this scheme be extended to boys as well. Why discriminate? Both girls and boys should benefit from this," Uddhav Thackeray stated during a press conference.
The ruling coalition in Maharashtra, which includes Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), NCP (Ajit Pawar faction), and the BJP, is aiming to roll out this scheme to attract women voters ahead of the Assembly elections slated for later this year.Â
The Ladli Behna scheme, credited with contributing to the BJP's return to power in last year's Madhya Pradesh elections, provides women with a monthly stipend of Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500. Eknath Shinde is expected to announce this scheme in the state Budget, which is set to be presented on Friday, June 28.
Uddhav Thackeray also called for a complete waiver of farm loans to be implemented before the state Assembly elections. "There should be a complete waiver of farm loans immediately, and this should be put into effect before the state polls," Thackeray asserted.
The former Chief Minister also criticized the Centre and the state government, referring to them as "leakage governments" in light of the NEET examination controversy and reports of water leakage at the Ayodhya Ram temple. "The Monsoon Session of the Maharashtra Assembly starts today, but people are saying 'tata, bye-bye' to this government. The Budget will be announced by this government tomorrow. We expect them to disclose how much money they have spent on Maharashtra. This is a leakage government. Leakage is happening at Ram Mandir and there is also the paper leak issue," Thackeray commented.
