Jaipur, Sept 4: The Rajasthan government will provide mobile phones to women falling under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) under the Bhamashah Yojana. Under the scheme, 5,000 gram panchayats will also be provided free WiFi facilities.

The phone distribution campaign was launched by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Saturday. The phone distribution in BPL families is expected to be concluded by September 30.

Earlier,  on August 29, Raje had launched the Bhamashah Wallet mobile to promote digital payments in the state.

Pollsters have linked the mobile distribution campaign to the upcoming assembly polls in the state. Challenged by an anti-incumbency sentiment along with a resurgent Congress, Raje is expected to roll-out more sops in a bid to seek another term in power.

The Rajasthan CM is not the only head of poll-bound state who has resorted to mobile distribution ahead of the elections. In the last month, her Chhattisgarh counterpart and BJP colleague Raman Singh launched a campaign to distribute smartphones to 50,00,000 students and women in the state. Notably, Chhattisgarh will also go to polls later this year, along with Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Gadgets as sops, political analysts point out, was first rolled out on a large scale by former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav, who distributed laptops to students who passed out Class 10th and 12th from state schools.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 04, 2018 04:21 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).