Shivraj Singh Chouhan outlined Madhya Pradesh's development over the years (File)
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that schemes like 'Ladli Behna' have changed the lives of women of the state and he will continue to actively cooperate in connecting them and making them aware of the benefits of the scheme.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Mr Chouhan said, "We have to move now from the 'Ladli Behna' scheme to 'Lakhpati Behna'."
"When I was nothing, not even an MLA, I used to work for the daughters. When I became an MLA, I started getting poor daughters married. When I became an MP, I started getting daughters without parents married. We brought seven daughters to our home and my wife raised them. This has been the thing in my mind since childhood that my mother, sister, and daughter did not get complete justice. It is the mission of my life to give complete justice to half the population. Therefore, as soon as I became the Chief Minister, our journey to 'Ladli Lakshmi Yojana' and then to 'Ladli Behna' was a very important dimension of women empowerment," he said.
He emphasised that he will continue to actively participate in connecting the women and making them aware of the benefits of the scheme.
"I am happy to say that a scheme like Laadli Behna has changed the lives of women. Now we have to go from Ladli Behna to Lakhpati Behna. The government will do its work, but with the government, I will continue to actively cooperate in connecting the women, connecting the society, making them aware, providing training, providing benefits of the schemes," he added.
Also, informing about the development changes that took place in Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Chouhan said that the per capita income has increased from Rs 11,000 to Rs 1.4 lakh in the state.
"The state whose total budget was once Rs 21,000 crore, today the budget of Madhya Pradesh is Rs 3.19 lakh thousand crores. The per capita income has increased from Rs 11,000 to Rs 1.4 lakh and our GSDP, which was once Rs 71,000 crore, today is Rs 13.5 lakh crore last year, which will cross Rs 15 lakh crore this time. So, I am satisfied that we were able to do a very remarkable work in the progress and development of Madhya Pradesh," Shivraj Singh Chouhan said.
The former Chief Minister also extended his wishes to Mohan Yadav and hoped that he would carry forward his mission of development in the state under the PM's guidance.
"Under the leadership of Mohan Yadav the development works will be taken forward with the guidance of PM Modi. A good party worker always thinks that his successor should achieve more success than him. My best wishes to Dr Mohan Yadav and other party leaders. All of them together will run the BJP government much better and I will always provide positive support," he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)