New Maharashtra cabinet will decide on hiking Ladki Bahin stipend: BJP leader

Mumbai, Dec 2 (PTI) Senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar on Monday said the incoming cabinet in Maharashtra will decide when to hike the monthly Rs 1,500 stipend given to eligible women under the Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana to Rs 2,100 as promised by ruling allies before assembly polls.

The cash transfer scheme targeted at women from poor families in the 21-65 age group, implemented around three months before the November 20 polls, is widely considered as one of the main reasons behind the BJP-led coalition Mahayuti's massive mandate in the elections.

Mungantiwar, a state finance minister who last month won assembly elections for the seventh time from Ballarpur in Chandrapur district, in response to a question from reporters said it was the new cabinet's right to decide when to increase the stipend under the Ladki Bahin Yojana.

"The decision to increase the amount to Rs 2,100 per month would be taken in cabinet meeting of the new government. It is the cabinet's prerogative to decide how and when to increase the amount," said the minister in the outgoing Mahayuti government.

The BJP has already announced that the new chief minister will take oath at 5 pm on December 5 at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders.

In a media interview given earlier, the former finance minister was quoted as saying that the new government may undertake a review of the scheme to ensure only eligible women get its benefit.

After a poor showing in Maharashtra in the April-May Lok Sabha elections, the Mahayuti coalition got a resounding mandate in the assembly polls as it won 230 of the 288 seats in the legislative assembly. PTI ND RSY