No 'mukhyamantri' on NCP posters hailing 'Majhi Ladki Bahin' yojana on Ajit Pawar's birthday

Mumbai: The word 'mukhyamantri' was missing from posters put by the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party to advertise the Maharashtra government's Majhi Ladki Bahin scheme under which women with a family income of less that 2.5 lakh will get monthly financial aid of Rs 1,500.

The Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana was announced by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who also holds the finance portfolio in the Eknath Shinde government, in his budget speech in the assembly last month.

These posters came up during Pawar's tour of Parner, Ahmednagar, Shrigonda and Karjat-Jamkhed assembly segments in Ahmednagar district on Monday to mark the deputy CM's birthday.

In programmes held in the four places, which were decorated with pink posters and where Pawar spoke to women, the scheme was mentioned as 'Majhi Ladki Bahin;' with no mention of 'mukhyamantri'.

Incidentally, Pawar too had mentioned it as 'Ladki Bahin Yojana' in a video message earlier this month.

"There is no need to look for any controversy. The name of the scheme is Majhi Ladki Bahin and that is how it is mentioned on the banners. There is no politics nor any disrespect," NCP spokesperson and youth wing president Suraj Chavan said.

Earlier, Ajit Pawar helped women fill out the forms for this scheme.

"My family told me to celebrate my birthday at home, but I insisted I should work more than usual on this day to improve the lives of my sisters. I am sure the budget presented last month will improve the living standards of people of Maharashtra," he said at an event in Parner.