MVA govt won't scrap Ladki Bahin scheme, toll waiver, says Aaditya

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday said that if the MVA returns to power in Maharashtra, it will not scrap the incumbent Mahayuti government’s ‘Ladki Bahin’ scheme and the waiver of toll at Mumbai’s entry points.

Addressing a press conference, Thackeray took a dig at Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis, and Ajit Pawar for presenting their government’s report card earlier in the day. He said the people of the state have now prepared their “deport card.”

“Businesses and jobs have been deported from the state under the Mahayuti government,” he alleged. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government will scrap incentives above and beyond the tender of the multi-billion-dollar Dharavi Redevelopment project, he said.

The Adani Group, which is executing the Dharavi Redevelopment project, is being given 1,080 acres of Mumbai land, Thackeray claimed. The former Maharashtra minister alleged that in the guise of announcing several sops in the last few cabinets ahead of the polls, the government took decisions to benefit the Adani Group.

“Why did the government not take the decision of the Ladki Bahin scheme and toll waiver earlier? We will not scrap the scheme of Ladki Bahin and toll waiver. Instead, we will enhance the amount (of financial aid given under the Ladki Bahin scheme),” Thackeray said.

Eligible women get Rs 1,500 per month of financial assistance under the Shinde government’s flagship ‘Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana’. The government waived toll for light motor vehicles entering Mumbai at all five booths starting October 14 midnight.

On CM Shinde’s charge that all projects were stalled by the previous MVA government, Thackeray said he was Urban Development Minister in the same dispensation for two-and-a-half years and still, Shinde is shamelessly talking about it.

The MVA alliance of undivided Shiv Sena, Congress, and undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) came to power in Maharashtra in November 2019. However, the Uddhav Thackeray-led government collapsed in June 2022 after Eknath Shinde and other Shiv Sena MLAs rebelled against the party leadership and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form a government.