New Delhi, Nov. 27: The Congress leadership has decided to exploit the direct cash transfer project for electoral gains in a big way.

Even though the direct cash transfer move is aimed at improving the delivery mechanism and not to create a new body of beneficiaries, the Congress hopes that the project will boost its electoral prospects as the revolutionary Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) had done in the past. While the Centre took care to formally announce the cash-transfer scheme at the Congress headquarters, ministers went out of the way to identify it with the party’s ambitious welfare agenda which resulted in a series of right-based legislations, with the politically-prized Food Security Act waiting to be unveiled.

While finance minister P Chidambaram asserted that the “party is proud and very happy (with this scheme)”, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh didn’t want to miss the opportunity to link it with the Congress’ electoral symbol ‘hand’. To do it, he coined the slogan: “Aapka paisa/ aapke haath. (your money/ in your hand).” To stress the importance of the decision, Rahul Gandhi will be addressing a meeting of party leaders who will be representing the 51 districts where the scheme will be launched in the first phase.

In the past, Sonia Gandhi had addressed a similar meeting in Delhi to highlight the importance of MGNREGA.

Chidambaram, who was initially skeptical of aadhar (unique identification project) and had advised the government to move cautiously even on the cash-transfer scheme, today said: “There will be immense benefits. Today’s system is a maze. In the new system, there will be no leakage, no rent-seeking, no duplication, no falsification and the efficiency gains will be incalculable. And the government is also looking for savings.”