Madhya Pradesh Congress may tweak campaign strategy in the wake of sops offered by Bharatiya Janata Party

To match the Congress’ promise to provide a monthly cash assistance of ₹1,500 under the Mahila Samman scheme, the BJP government announced ₹1,250 under the Ladli Behna scheme (LBY), plus an additional, one-time ₹250 as a ‘Rakhi Shagun’. The BJP had announced its women-centric scheme at the beginning of the year, but pivoted its strategy and revised the amount upwards after the Congress promised ₹1,500 and a ₹500 gas cylinder to all women beneficiaries every month.

 A slew of sops announced by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the eve of Raksha Bandhanmay force the Congress to recalibrate its strategy, say party insiders.

“We definitely played our cards [a bit too] early, and that gave time to the Shivraj Singh government to come up with these schemes,” said a senior leader who is involved in preparing strategy for Madhya Pradesh.

“We have a few things up our sleeves but we will wait until the model code of conduct kicks in,” he added.

To match the Congress’ promise to provide a monthly cash assistance of ₹1,500 under the Mahila Samman scheme, the BJP government had announced ₹1,250 under the Ladli Behna scheme (LBY), plus an additional, one-time ₹250 as a ‘Rakhi Shagun’.

The BJP had announced its women-centric scheme at the beginning of the year, but pivoted its strategy and revised the amount upwards after the Congress promised ₹1,500 and a ₹500 gas cylinder to all women beneficiaries every month.

Mr. Chouhan reiterated his plan to hike the LBY benefits to ₹3,000 eventually, at a pre-Rakshan Bandhan event in Bhopal while also making another announcement that tackles, for the time being, the cooking-fuel component of the Congress’ poll guarantee. The Chief Minister said cylinders would be offered to beneficiaries for ₹450 during the auspicious month of Sawan.

Congress MP Kamal Nath, who had questioned the sincerity of the promise, claimed that the BJP was doing it out of compulsion and that he was pleased that his promise had triggered a discussion on cylinders.