Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced a monthly allowance of Rs 18,000 for Hindu temple priests and granthis of gurdwaras if the Aam Aadmi Party retains power in the capital’s Assembly polls, which are expected by February.

The funds are proposed to be disbursed under a welfare scheme known as the Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana.

“If Aam Aadmi Party wins, priests of temples and granthis of Gurudwara Sahib in Delhi will be given an honorarium of Rs 18,000 per month,” Kejriwal wrote in a post on X. “This scheme is a tribute to their spiritual contribution to the society and their efforts to preserve our cultural heritage.”

Kejriwal said that “registration” for the scheme would begin on Tuesday and that he would visit the Hanuman Mandir in Connaught Place to inaugurate the process.

“Our MLAs, candidates and volunteers will visit all the temples and Gurdawaras in Delhi to get the priests and granthis registered,” he added. “It will come across as a sin if you [Bharatiya Janata Party] try to stop this scheme for Pujaris [priests] and granthis.”

On December 12, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal announced that the Delhi Cabinet had approved the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana to provide Rs 1,000 per month to women above the age of 18.

On December 18, Kejriwal promised free medical treatment for all senior citizens residing in Delhi under the Sanjeevani Yojana if his party retained power. He said that Aam Aadmi Party volunteers would soon visit homes to register eligible senior citizens for the scheme, which would be implemented after the Assembly polls.

Days later, the Delhi government’s Department of Health, in addition to its Department for Women and Child Development, distanced themselves from the two welfare schemes.

They claimed that the collection of citizens’ personal information for the schemes, by any private individual or political party, was “fraudulent and without any authority”.

On Wednesday, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi had accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of pressuring officers of the state government to distance themselves from the schemes.

The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Amendment Act, notified in August last year, effectively gives the BJP-led Union government the power to appoint civil servants in Delhi.

On Saturday, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena ordered a probe into the schemes based on complaints received from Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit. Dikshit alleged that the Aam Aadmi party was collecting personal data fraudulently under the pretext of the Mahila Samman Yojana, reported NDTV.

In a press conference on Saturday, Kejriwal said the two welfare initiatives had rattled the BJP and the Congress, causing them to join hands to stop the Aam Aadmi Party.

He promised that the two schemes would be implemented in the capital if the Aam Aadmi Party was voted back to power, regardless of any opposition to them.