Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday accused AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal of copying his government-sponsored pilgrimage scheme as a pre-poll promise ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls.
"I had announced it in the budget and my scheme was ready and has been notified too. Registration has begun for those who want to undertake teerth yatra. He is copying my schemes... He is a copymaster," Sawant alleged, two days after the Delhi CM, during his visit to Goa, promised to implement a special pilgrimage package to Hindus, Muslims and Christian voters of the coastal state, if the party comes to power in 2022.
Sawant claimed that the 'original' pilgrimage scheme was first announced by him in his budget speech for the year 2021-22.
On November 1, Kejriwal announced that if AAP comes to power in Goa, Hindus, Muslims and Christians would be allowed to perform a government-funded pilgrimage at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Ajmer Sharif and Vellankani.
While Sawant claims that Kejriwal's announcement in Goa was modelled on the scheme 'Mukhyamantri Devdarshan Scheme' introduced in his budget scheme, the AAP government in Delhi had first rolled out the pilgrimage package in its 2018-19 budget, for which Rs 53 crore had been allocated.
This is not the first time that the two chief ministers have had a go at each other.
After the AAP announced free power to the tune of 300 units to domestic households in the state, the BJP-led coalition government in Goa had subsequently announced 16,000 free litres of water in every household.
Kejriwal had then accused Sawant of duplicating innovative policies and schemes introduced by the Delhi government.
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Published 03 November 2021, 16:09 IST