Countering the guarantee of Rs 2,100 under ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana’ by the AAP, the Congress on Monday announced ‘Pyari Didi Yojana’ for the women of Delhi, promising an assistance of Rs 2,500 if they win the Delhi assembly elections, with senior party leaders including Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar hitting out at the AAP for not fulfilling their poll promise made to the women in Punjab.
To announce the scheme in the Capital, the party brought in Shivakumar with the senior leaders boasting of the scheme rolled out in Karnataka by the Congress government.
Shivakumar said it aims to financially empower women, promising that it would be implemented at the first Cabinet meeting of the new government.
“Today, I have come here to launch the Pyari Didi Yojana. We are confident that a Congress government will be formed in Delhi, and on the first day of the new Cabinet, we will implement the scheme to provide Rs 2,500 to every woman in the capital,” Shivakumar said.
“Whatever and wherever Congress has promised at the nation or state level, we have delivered and we are going to deliver,” he said, adding that within three months after coming to power, all the guarantees were implemented in Karnataka.
He added, “Women in the entire state travel free in buses, 10 kg of rice is being given to every household, about Rs 3,000 given to the unemployed youth, 200 units of electricity, and Rs 2,000 is being given to every woman. Additionally, 1.22 crore women are getting Rs 2,000 every month.”
While addressing media, Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav said that their tag line would be “Hogi har jarurat puri, Congress hai jaruri” (every need will be fulfilled, Congress is needed). Yadav claimed that there is an impostor in Delhi who is continuously working to show people dreams.
Claiming that the condition of Delhi is deteriorating, he said, “I am happy that we have announced the scheme through Shivkumar. In the coming days, we will come up with many such schemes which are very important for Delhi.”
Yadav later concluded his address to the media by saying that “Karnatak ne ki hai umeedein puri, Delhi ne kaha hai Congress hai jaruri” (Karnataka has fulfilled all the expectations, Delhi said that Congress is needed).
Further, Congress’ Kalkaji assembly constituency candidate Alka Lamba also raised questions regarding the lack of implementation of a similar scheme in Punjab. “While everytime they fail to implement something in Delhi they blame the central government and the LG, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal should answer why he has not been able to keep his promise to the women in Punjab when he has a full-fledged government in the state,” she asked.
Lamba also thanked the senior leadership of the party on behalf of the women in Delhi for the scheme and asserted that it will be implemented as soon as we hold the first cabinet meeting.
Elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly are due in February. Yadav, the party’s Delhi in-charge Qazi Nizamuddin, and other senior leaders were present during the announcement.
