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Ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, Chief Minister M. K. Stalin announces a cash bonanza for 1.31 crore women, drawing comparisons with Nitish Kumar’s Bihar strategy. The move is seen as a calculated attempt to consolidate women voters before polls.
Stalin’s Women-Centric Push Sparks Bihar Comparison (Image Source: Internet)
Chennai: It has become a trend these days to win over women voters by announcing "cash transfers" into their accounts. Today, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin announced a big bonanza for women voters, which may influence them to a large extent.
It was proved effective in Bihar last year when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar transferred Rs 2,500 crore through DBT to 25 lakh women, giving financial assistance of Rs 10,000 each. Nitish Kumar went on to win the Assembly election, as per Dynamite News correspondent.
Chennai: On the eve of Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M. K. Stalin today sprang a surprise by announcing a Rs 5,000 bonanza into the bank accounts of 1.31 crore women in the state. Monthly aid under Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai would be increased to Rs 2,000 under the Dravidian Model of Governance 2.0.
The amount includes the advance disbursal of the monthly rights grant of Rs 1,000 for February, March, and April, along with a "special summer assistance" component of Rs 2,000.
Further details would be worked out within a week, government officials said. Meanwhile, the election schedule for the Tamil Nadu Assembly is expected to be announced in March, and the state government has taken enough precaution to ensure this scheme does not come under the Model Code of Conduct.
On the other side, the entire opposition in the state blamed the Chief Minister for announcing this scheme after having failed to implement more than 100 electoral promises made in the manifesto.
This step is seen as a strategic move by the Chief Minister to win over women voters, who constitute a major share of the electorate. In fact, in 207 Assembly seats, women voters outnumber men in Tamil Nadu.
The total number of voters in the state stands at 6.27 crore, of which 3.19 crore are women and 3.07 crore are men.
It may be recalled that last October, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, eight weeks before the Assembly elections, announced a cash transfer of Rs 10,000 to 25 lakh women under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana.
Earlier in September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the scheme and transferred funds of Rs 7,500 crore to the bank accounts of 75 lakh women through video conferencing from Delhi.
