By Ajay Kumar
Congress’ unique plan to extend its outreach to women of Bihar ahead of the assembly elections has created a huge stir. The grand-old party, inspired by the film ‘Padman’, announced to distribute sanitary pads with Rahul Gandhi’s photo on them to five lakh women in the state. The initiative, under the Priyadarshini Udaan Yojana, is aimed at making women aware about menstrual health and Congress’s promises to women in the state. The sanitary pad box, pink in colour, has a photo of Rahul Gandhi on it with the party’s poll promise of a Rs 2,500 financial aid per month to women from deprived families. The announcement was made by Bihar Congress President Rajesh Kumar during a press briefing. The decision, however, became an attacking point for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has now called the party “Anti-Women”. “An insult of women of Bihar with Rahul Gandhi’s picture on sanitary pad! Congress is an Anti Women party!” BJP national spokesperson, Pradeep Bhandari, said. “Women of Bihar will teach Congress RJD a lesson,” he added. On NDA’s questions, All India Mahila Congress President Alka Lamba said, “The BJP has always been anti-women. The work that the BJP-led NDA government should have done has been done by the Mahila Congress…” The state is set to go to the polls later this year, and the opposition is targeting the ruling NDA to corner the alliance during the elections. In another development, Bihar Congress President Rajesh Kumar launched a sharp attack on the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging it is working against democratic processes in the state. “The way the Election Commission is functioning in Bihar is against democracy, and the Congress will not tolerate it under any circumstances,” Kumar said on Friday. He expressed concern over widespread “irregularities” in the voter list, claiming that 鈥渘ames of crores of voters could be removed from the rolls鈥. 鈥淲e have sought time from the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar. A Congress delegation will meet him to discuss these irregularities,鈥 Kumar said.