‘Brothers became sisters’: Oppn alleges ‘scam’ in Ladki Bahin Yojana
Mumbai: The Ladki Bahin Yojana for women from low income families was a well orchestrated plan to “trick” the people of Maharashtra to vote for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, the NCP (SP) claimed on Wednesday and sought an SIT probe into alleged irregularities in the scheme.
In a statement here, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto cited response to a Right to Information (RTI) query, and said 12,431 men were disbursed Rs 1,500 each a month for 13 months, with the total amount pegged at Rs 24.24 crore, under the scheme meant for women from families earning less than Rs 2.5 lakh annually.
He maintained the Mahayuti government tried to turn “brothers into sisters” just to garner votes in the November 2024 assembly polls, which were won decisively by the BJP-led bloc also consisting of the Shiv Sena and the NCP.
Crasto termed the disbursal of stipend to men under a scheme targeted at poor women as “hilarious chicanery” and noted the government stands exposed over implementation of its flagship welfare programme.
Crasto pointed out that earlier the Mahayuti government itself had identified more than 26 lakh ineligible beneficiaries of the scheme which was launched months ahead of the assembly polls last year.
“All this goes to prove that this (Ladki Bahin) was a well orchestrated yojana to lure and trick the people of Maharashtra to vote for them (ruling alliance). The truth of this vote luring scheme is now coming out in the open,” he charged. Crasto demanded that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis take full responsibility for poor execution of the scheme and set up an SIT to investigate alleged irregularities and explain the “wrongdoings” to people.
Joining the issue, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray, whose party is an ally of NCP (SP), said there are reports of a “Rs 164 crore scam” in the Ladki Bahin scheme and added this cannot happen without the misuse of government machinery and political patronage.
“Swindling government money in the name of scheme is an old trick of Shiv Sena. This is also happening in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation,” Thackeray said.
