New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister Kunwar Vijay Shah, whose remarks on Colonel Sofia Qureshi earlier this year had caused nationwide outrage, has stirred up another controversy for his purported remarks wherein he said that women beneficiaries of the state’s flagship Ladli Behna Scheme should felicitate the chief minister.Shah, who is presently the minister for tribal affairs, and Bhopal gas tragedy relief and rehabilitation, made the remarks in Ratlam, the district of which he is minister in-charge. During a meeting in Ratlam on Saturday (December 13) Shah reportedly issued directions that the beneficiary women under the scheme should felicitate Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav in a special ceremony, reported The Hindu.A purported video from the meeting has also gone viral, where the minister is heard asking officials how many Ladli Behna beneficiaries can attend the event.“If we want to felicitate the Chief Minister on behalf of the Ladli Behnas (beloved sisters), how many can come? Will 50,000 out of 2.5 lakh attend?” he is seen asking an official who replies that 50,000 women could attend the event. After hearing this, Shah directed officials to organise the event in the new year, reported The Hindu.He is later heard saying that the women who will attend will get an increment of Rs 250 in their monthly allowance.“We will verify those whose payments have increased by Rs 250 each. If someone’s Aadhaar is not linked, we will put the verification on hold for a while. That means they will automatically become pending. Then all of them will come,” Shah is heard saying.Shah’s remarks have been slammed by the opposition, with Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jitu Patwari, accused the minister of “insulting” the women beneficiaries and also demanding his resignation.“The BJP, which should honour its beloved sisters, is instead having its pampered minister insult them. First, the vile remark against the nation’s pride, Colonel Sofia Qureshi, and now threats to the mothers and sisters of the state – this is clear proof of the BJP’s frustrated and anti-woman mentality,” Patwari wrote on X.Following the furore over this remarks, Shah issued a clarification on PTI and said that his statement was being “twisted and misrepresented.”“I deny the misleading reports being spread regarding this. The State Government is working continuously for women’s empowerment so our sisters become self-reliant. There is no question of any ill intent towards them. I had been informed that some ineligible women are also receiving benefits and eligible beneficiaries are angry about this. We discussed this at an informal meeting and it was decided that only eligible sisters should get the benefit,” he said.In May, the top court had slammed Shah for his remarks, saying that the entire nation was ashamed of him.Shah, a cabinet minister of Madhya Pradesh and an MP in Lok Sabha, had made derogatory, communal remarks against Colonel Qureshi, who was one of the faces of the press briefings on Operation Sindoor, along with Wing Commander Vyomika Singh.“Jinhone humari betiyon ke sindoor ujade the…humne unki behen bhej kar ke unki aisi ki taisi karwayi (Those [terrorists] who wiped out the vermilion of our sisters [in the Pahalgam attack]… we avenged these people by sending their sister to destroy them),” Shah had said, repeating at least thrice that their community’s sister was sent by Modiji to destroy them.