BHOPAL: On a winter day in 1980, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had travelled to Chhindwara to accompany 34-year-old Kamal Nath file his first nomination for Lok Sabha polls. She called him her “third son”. Now, almost four decades later, chief minister Kamal Nath is invoking Indira’s memory as his party makes a push for Delhi.All the schemes launched by Nath since he became CM are named after Indira. While BJP had renamed over two dozen schemes in the name of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay and Atal Bihari Vajpayee during its 15-year rule, Congress is banking on the Indira magic as it aims for “total badlav” at the Centre.“Two new schemes — Indira Kisan Jyoti Yojana and Indira Griha Jyoti Yojana — will be launched very soon in Madhya Pradesh to benefit farmers by halving their electricity tariff and giving 100 units of power at Rs 100 to unorganized labourers,” CM Nath is learnt to have said at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.The Congress rechristened ‘Saral Bijli Yojana’ of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government as ‘Indira Griha Jyoti Yojana’. Pension for the elderly and widows in BPL category is named ‘Indira Vriddha Pension Yojana’, and hiked from Rs 300 to Rs600. Under Indira Thali, cooked meals will be provided to public at Rs 10 per plate. The BJP government had a similar scheme called ‘Deendayal Rasoi Yojana’. Indira Thali was announced in Indore on January 5 and is likely to launched in all district headquarters very soon.The Kamal Nath government plans to review housing, savings, loan, health and women and child welfare schemes and rename them after Indira Gandhi, say sources. Urban development minister Jaivardhan Singh, however, said Congress is more focused on the “broader effect of schemes than their names”.Congress not focusing on names but on impact: Jaivardhan SinghThe schemes launched earlier this week have not been renamed, but they are more effective, with bigger modifications, Jaivardhan Singh told TOI on Friday. “Major benefits have been added to the schemes. Unlike BJP, Congress is not focusing on names but on impact,” he said.When Jaivardhan’s father, Digvijaya Singh, was CM, the Congress government had launched Indira Awas Yojana for homeless, which was later renamed by BJP as Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana.The BJP government scrapped Rajiv Gandhi Jalgrahan Mission and launched CM Sinchai Pariyojana (irrigation scheme). Similarly, Rajiv Gandhi Shiksha Mission was discontinued when BJP came to power at the Centre in 2004 and merged with ‘School Chalein Hum’ programme. The Narendra Modi government has changed names of 29 prominent schemes launched by the erstwhile Congress government under Manmohan Singh.In Madhya Pradesh, there are plans to rechristen ‘Deendayal Antyodaya Upchar Yojna’, a scheme that seeks to provide social security cover to people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and Deendayal Mobile Hospital Yojna, which aims to provide medical facilities in SC/ST areas, say sources.Recently, senior BJP leader and union minister Nitin Gadkari took Congress and BJP leaders by surprise when he praised Indira Gandhi for her political acumen and competitiveness. “I did not believe in caste and reservation politics. This nation has had leaders like Indira Gandhi. She got the better of many stalwart male leaders of her time.Did she get any reservation?” Gadkari had told a gathering of women selfhelp groups in Nagpur.The state BJP, however, distanced itself Indira praise. Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava said: “Changing names will not change the scheme. BJP chose a poor philosopher and common man like Deendayal ji to name schemes, which Congress now wants to rename.“Congress’s parochial attitude will not help the old party garner votes. BJP’s intention was to highlight grassroots level leaders to present them as ideals before the public and not people like Indira Gandhi, who belonged to an affluent family,” Bhargava told TOI, demanding that Congress explain how it will fund it promises.