Punjab BJP seeks Rs 51,000 payout for women over AAP scheme delay

Chandigarh: Punjab BJP chief Kewal Singh Dhillon on Friday said the Punjab government should transfer Rs 51,000 to every woman in the state, Rs 1,000 for every month AAP has been in government, for delaying financial aid promised ahead of the last elections.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday rolled out his government's monthly financial assistance scheme for women - 'Mawan Dhiyan Satkar Yojna', and said the AAP has fulfilled its final poll "guarantee" made ahead of the 2022 assembly elections.

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Under the scheme, women from the general category will receive Rs 1,000 per month, while those belonging to the Scheduled Castes will receive Rs 1,500.

Mann said more than 40 lakh women have already been registered under the "landmark" initiative.

Speaking to reporters here, state BJP chief Dhillon said Mann government has cheated the women of Punjab.

"We demand that the government immediately transfer Rs 51,000, the total amount due for 51 months of AAP rule in Punjab, as per the third guarantee given by AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal on November 21, 2021, during a programme titled 'Kejriwal di Teeji Guarantee, Mahilavan Nu Vadhaiyan' in Moga," Dhillon said.

Dhillon, who was flanked by Punjab BJP leader Vineet Joshi, claimed the "delay" in the rollout of the scheme a "historic betrayal".

First, by transferring only Rs 1,000 per month to general category women and Rs 1,500 per month to Scheduled Caste women, the Mann government has effectively denied the Rs 51,000 due for 51 months under Kejriwal's original promise of Rs 1,000 per month to every eligible woman, he said.

The AAP came to power in Punjab in March 2022.

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"Second, Kejriwal's guarantee was for every woman above 18 years of age in Punjab, covering more than 1.25 crore women. Yet, the Mann government claims to have transferred money to only 36 lakh women, meaning over 89 lakh women have been denied even the promised Rs 1,000 assistance," Dhillon said.

The AAP has mastered the art of misleading people through false claims and propaganda, the BJP leader alleged.

He said Kejriwal had claimed at the Moga rally that he delivers on his promises. But in reality, this promise appears to have been a calculated attempt to mislead Punjab's women and secure votes through false guarantees when Punjab polls were barely few months away, Dhillon said.

Dhillon said that Kejriwal had then claimed that there was no shortage of money for the scheme and that stopping Rs 20,000 crore worth of illegal sand mining would finance the initiative.

"But after AAP came to power, illegal mining has not stopped; rather it has increased manifold," Dhillon alleged.

The Punjab BJP chief asserted that BJP will continue to fight for Punjab's women until every promised rupee reaches their bank accounts.

The BJP has a track record of fulfilling its promises and it will form the government in Punjab after the 2027 polls, he said.

"In Haryana, the promise of Rs 2,100 monthly assistance to women under the Lado Lakshmi Yojana was fulfilled by the BJP government within the first few months after returning to power.

"In West Bengal too, immediately after coming to power, we launched a scheme for women," he said.

BJP has a vision for Punjab's development and whatever we will promise will be fulfilled, he said.

Notably, the BJP government in West Bengal last month launched the Annapurna Yojana for women and began the process of transferring Rs 3,000 per month to 28.25 lakh beneficiaries enrolled in the first phase.

The rollout of this financial assistance scheme was one of the key poll promises of the BJP in this year's assembly elections.