Harish Rao slams Revanth Reddy for using sarees, SHG loans to influence women ahead of polls

Former Minister T Harish Rao accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of attempting to influence SHG women voters by distributing sarees and interest-free loans ahead of gram panchayat elections. Rao demanded overdue Mahalakshmi scheme benefits and highlighted discrepancies in distribution numbers

Siddipet: Former Minister T Harish Rao alleged that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was attempting to influence SHG women voters by distributing sarees and interest-free loans ahead of the gram panchayat elections.

Addressing a gathering during the distribution of interest-free loans for SHG women in Siddipet on Tuesday, Harish Rao said the BRS government had distributed sarees to all women during every Bathukamma, while the Congress government had confined the benefit only to SHG women.

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He stated that there were only 46 lakh women in SHG groups in the State, whereas the BRS government had distributed sarees to 1.30 crore women during Bathukamma. He further said the Congress government was distributing sarees to 1.99 lakh women in Siddipet against a total of 3.83 lakh eligible women.

Harish Rao said the government failed to distribute Bathukamma sarees during the last two Dasara festivals. While Revanth had termed the saree distribution to SHG women as a traditional sare gifted by parents after marriage, Rao demanded that the Chief Minister distribute the Rs 2,500 benefit promised under the Mahalakshmi scheme for every woman. Calling the scheme overdue for the last two years, he said the arrears amount to Rs 60,000.

He added that the government had not taken up the distribution of sarees and interest-free loans in municipalities and corporations because there were no elections in urban areas. Stating that the government was distributing Rs 25,000 crore in loans per year for SHG women, he claimed that only Rs 5,000 crore of that amount was interest-free.

With the Election Commission set to issue the notification for the gram panchayat elections on Wednesday, Harish Rao said officials had a hectic day on Tuesday as they had to cover all villages by evening.