PUNE: Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said that the Mahayuti government will increase the monthly financial aid to Rs 2,500 and later Rs 3,000 in phases from the present Rs 1,500 given to eligible women beneficiaries in the age group of 21 to 65 years if it is voted to power again in the upcoming state assembly election scheduled for late this year.

CM Shinde made these announcements on Saturday at the statewide launch program of the ambitious 'Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana' and called upon the women participants at the function to vote for the Mahayuti so that the implementation of a slew of welfare and development schemes, including the Ladki Bahin scheme, can continue. The government in the recent budget has also introduced a similar scheme for eligible men under the 'Ladka Bhau Yojana' to provide financial assistance and practical work experience to young men.

The Mahayuti alliance, consisting of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Ajit Pawar, is banking heavily on the welfare schemes announced by state Finance Minister Ajit Pawar when he presented the budget in June, announcing various schemes, including one for farmers' waiver of electricity bill dues, costing the government Rs 14,761 crore. The minister had said that the CM Mazi Ladki Bahin scheme would lead to an annual expenditure of Rs 46,000 crore for the government.

The CM also criticized the MVA, stating that the opposition was promising to introduce better schemes after Mahayuti’s announcement but never did anything when it was governing the state. “Mahayuti is crediting Rs 3,000 for July and August into each beneficiary’s account. However, if Congress had implemented the scheme, beneficiaries would have received only Rs 450,” Shinde said. He was referring to the statement made by former PM Rajiv Gandhi that only 15% of the amount announced in any scheme ever reached the beneficiaries. 

The schemes are largely based on the lines of Madhya Pradesh's 'Ladli Behna Yojana,' a welfare programme that was started by former MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and became very popular with the women voters attributing BJP's landslide victory in the state last year.