New Delhi: A direct cash benefit of up to Rs 3,000 for women, six cylinders per household at a subsidised rate, unemployment allowance of Rs 4,000 and a loan waiver of Rs 3 lakh for farmers are among the five guarantees the Congress plans to announce in its Maharashtra manifesto on Wednesday, according to party sources involved in its drafting.
The event will be attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge–whose recent remarks that only financially-viable promises be made–landed the party in a spot with the Prime Minister castigating it for “unreal” pre-poll guarantees.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will also be at the launch of the manifesto, which has been drawn up by a team led by strategist Sunil Kanugolu, whose ideas have received pushback even from a few Maharashtra Congress leaders.
A cashless health insurance of Rs 25 lakh for every family is also among the five primary guarantees, Congress sources told ThePrint. The scheme was first launched by the erstwhile Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan, and adopted by several state units of the party in their election manifestos.
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Congress answer to Ladki Bahin?
The monthly financial assistance for women, along with the promise of subsidised cylinders, is the Congress’ counter to the ruling Mahayuti’s Majhi Ladki Bahin (My Beloved Sister) Yojana, under which Rs 1,500 a month is given to eligible women in the age group of 21 to 65 years who have a family income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh.
The party’s internal surveys have shown, the sources said, that the ruling coalition of the Shinde Sena, BJP and NCP (Ajit Pawar) have an edge over the Opposition’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of the Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) and NCP (Sharad Pawar) due to the popularity of this scheme, particularly in pockets hit by agrarian distress.
Meanwhile, the MVA will also launch a common manifesto soon.
Last week, former Maharashtra chief minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan told a rally that the MVA would enhance the monthly aid to Rs 2,000 if it won the polls.
Congress sources, however, said the party may promise Rs 2,000 but ultimately dole out between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 per month. Incidentally, Kanugolu’s team wanted to double the money, but faced pushback from several state Congress leaders who advised caution—much in line with Kharge’s sentiment.
The other promises such as six cylinders for a subsidised price of Rs 500 each and farm loan waivers of up to Rs 3 lakh per farmer have been made by the Congress in several recent elections including Telangana, Haryana, and Jammu and Kashmir.
In J&K, an unemployment allowance to “qualified youth” of up to Rs 3,500 per month for one year was among the Congress’ promises, which has been repeated in Maharashtra with a Rs 500 markup.
The Congress’ decision to prepare a bouquet of populist promises in Maharashtra, however, contrasts the scepticism shown by MVA partners, including Sharad Pawar, about the viability of schemes such as Ladki Bahin.
Pawar has on many occasions questioned the project—launched in August after the Mahayuti’s dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections—saying the state treasury lacked funds to sustain it in the long run. During its launch, the state government had pegged its annual cost to the exchequer at Rs 46,000 crore.
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Karnataka may walk back on a promise
A debate has raged for a while on the financial implications of pre-election promises that put the public exchequer under tremendous strain. In 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had used the term “revdi” to describe freebies promised by political parties, sparking a wrangling that lasted months.
However, the BJP subsequently leaned on many such promises state after state, and the debate fizzled out. Kharge’s remarks made at a Congress party event last Thursday has reignited it, giving the BJP an opportunity to accuse the Congress of making “unreal promises” to get votes.
“Don’t assure 5, 6,10 or 20 such promises… don’t do this… give guarantees according to your budget… If you give guarantees without the budget for it, you will go bankrupt,” Kharge had said, referring to Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s statement that the state government may review the free-bus-ride scheme for women. (EOM)
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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