“Kamal Nath govt didn’t implement 51 welfare schemes of Central govt,” says Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Indore (Madhya Pradesh) [India]: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has taken a jibe at Congress party saying the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh under former CM Kamal Nath did not implement 51 welfare schemes of the central government.

Sitharaman made the remark while addressing a press meet in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore district on Friday. She arrived here to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in view of the forthcoming state assembly polls scheduled to be held this month.

“The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, under Kamal Nath, did not implement 51 welfare schemes of the Central Government. They also did not send the list of the beneficiaries for PM KISAN Yojana from the state to the Centre. So, do they really care for the farmers,” Sitharaman asked.

She further said that the people could not trust the promises made by the Congress and that’s why she requested the people of the state to vote for the BJP.

“Whenever the Congress government has come to power in Madhya Pradesh, they have cheated and misled the farmers. We have been hearing their slogans for poverty alleviation since the 1970s but they did not take any concrete steps for this. Every dream shown by Congress remains the same even today. To trust on the promise of Congress, that dream will never come true,” the union minister added.

When asked about freebies of the state BJP government, Sitharaman said “Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Yojana was not the first scheme, even before this there was Ladli Lakshmi Yojana and Sambal Yojana. It is not a freebie, it is mentioned in the budget and discussed in the state assembly.”

Madhya Pradesh is one of the five states set to undergo polls in one phase on November 17 and the counting of votes will take place on December 3. Voters will choose legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies.

Notaly, the last state assembly polls in 2018 saw the Congress coming to power, with veteran leader Kamal Nath taking oath as the chief minister. Nonetheless, a political upheaval rocked the state in 2020 after then-Congressman Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with 22 loyalist MLAs, switched over to the saffron camp.

The Congress government fell after being reduced to a minority and the BJP formed the government, with Shivraj Singh Chouhan returning as chief minister.