State taking undue credit of Union govt schemes

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday accused the state government of trying to take credit of the Central governments poverty eradication initiatives. He alleged that the states claim of eradicating extreme poverty, the CPI-CPM rift over the PM SHRI scheme, and allegations against him were attempts to divert public attention from the Sabarimala gold scam, the Messi controversy, and other irregularities. The state government is trying to take credit for every scheme of the Prime Minister, and the Eradication of Extreme Poverty project is yet another example of this, Chandrasekhar said here. Citing World Bank data, he noted that 17 crore Indians have come out of poverty in the last 10 years including 6 crore in Uttar Pradesh, 3.7 crore in Bihar, 2.5 crore in Madhya Pradesh, 1.87 crore in Rajasthan, and 1.59 crore in Maharashtra. In Kerala, 2.72 lakh people have escaped extreme poverty in the past decade, he added. He said the progress was achieved through central schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKAY), the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), Ayushman Bharat Insurance, etc.