Reacting to Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge’s remark about not making fake promises, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde retaliated Congress’ ‘khata khat’ remarks and said that not even a single rupee was given to the people by ‘khata khat, khata khat’ and Maharashtra government puts the money in people’s accounts, ‘pat pata, pat.’
In an exclusive interview, CM Shinde said that Congress do not have the intention to give, they have only learned to take from the people.
“He (Kharge) is correct because they do not have the intention to give. They don’t know how to give, they know how to take. If PM Modi sends one rupee then the entire rupee goes into the DBT (Direct Bank Transfer). They have not learnt to give. We followed the guidelines of the RBI and the Central Government. We can take a loan of 25 per cent of the GDP. Our loan is 17.5 per cent and we are within the 3 per cent of FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act). We follow every guideline, we have not violated anything, therefore we have kept the entire year’s budget for it, therefore this scheme will not be stopped. No one will stop the Ladli Behen Yojana,” CM Shinde said.
Citing the example of Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana, the CM said that the Congress Party’s promises to these states remained unfulfilled.
“All of this was unexpected for the Opposition, they think we’re just puppets. They did not know that we would run such a big scheme and take development forward. The industry is also trusting us. Our government works for the people and the previous government used to work for itself, to build its property, for its own benefit… Some of their leaders used to say, khata khat, khata khat, not even a single rupee was given. Our government put the money in people’s accounts, pat pata, pat,” he added.
Earlier, Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge meted out advice to the Congress units headed for polls cautioning them to announce guarantees on the basis of their budget.
CM Shinde further said that the money for the Ladli Behen scheme for the month of November is being transfered to the bank account in October itself.
“The money for the Ladli Behen scheme should not be stopped because of the Model Code of Conduct, that is why we gave the November money in October. Elections are on November 20, results are on 23. After that, we will give the money for December in November because our intentions are very clear. Ask my Ladli Behna as how they are getting benifitted by Rs 1500. I belong to a poor farmer family. I have seen poverty. I used to think that whenever I would get the power, I would do something for my beloved sisters, mothers, farmers, brothers and senior citizens… As soon as I got the power, I told both my deputy CMs what we had to do and we did,” he added.
Maharashtra CM further asserted that the opposition is going to lose the Maharashtra Assembly polls.
“The Opposition has not been able to digest this. They are going to lose, they have started defaming it. The Ladki Behen is not going to forgive the opposition for opposing the scheme. My dream is to make our sisters lakhpati and we will fullfil this,” CM Shinde said.
The Maharashtra government launched the scheme on August 17 to provide financial assistance to women and make them more independent and self-reliant. The scheme aims to empower women through financial assistance, providing Rs 1,500 per month to women aged 21-65 with an annual income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh.
