Maharashtra Elections 2024: MVA's poll manifesto promises Rs 3,000 monthly allowance for women, caste census and more

MVA poll manifesto: The "Mahalakshmi Scheme" will offer monthly financial support to women, while the "Krishi Samruddhi Yojana" promises up to Rs 3 lakh farm loan waiver, plus a Rs 50,000 incentive for timely repayment.

MVA Maharashtra manifesto: Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls, the Opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance has unveiled a bundle of welfare promises to contest the state's ruling BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP combine.

Leaders of MVA at a rally organised at Mumbai's BKC ground promised a monthly allowance of Rs 3,000 and free state bus travel for women, a monthly allowance of Rs 4,000 for jobless youth, and health insurance worth up to Rs 25 lakh, news agency reported.

"Mahalakshmi Scheme": Women will be given an assured amount of Rs 2,000 a month. The farm loan up to Rs 3 lakh will be completely exempted under the "Krishi Samruddhi Yojana", along with Rs 50,000 reward for timely repayments. The MVA said that it would implement the caste census and would delete the 50 per cent quota if it would go for power.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked the BJP as "weakening the Constitution" and taking away precious projects from Maharashtra. Here, he said that there would be transparency in a caste census to be put forward, and fair reservation policies for backward communities to be represented.

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"The BJP does not say it publicly but is working quietly to disable it," he alleged. While naming vice chancellors in universities across the country, the "only qualification is membership of the RSS," Gandhi added.

NCP president Sharad Pawar said the state's economy has slumped a little in comparison to what it had been in preceding years under BJP policies while sounding a note of alarm about increasing crime against women. Maharashtra has slipped to ninth position in the league table of per capita income, he said while on a topic of alleged corruption associated with a proposed statue of Shivaji in Sindhudurg.

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Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray promised welfare measures, including a monthly handout of Rs 4,000 for unemployed youth, adding his voice to the appeal. He accused the BJP of "taxing people even for breathing" and promised to safeguard the people of Dharavi against eviction in the wake of redevelopment plans.

In a direct challenge to the BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, Thackeray suggested that in case a Shivaji temple is needed in Mumbra, it should be led by Fadnavis and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde pointing toward existing Shivaji statues there.

With a series of ambitious guarantees, MVA leaders underscored their commitment to social justice, welfare for women, and heritage of Maharashtra's icons to unseat the BJP-led coalition.