Rajasthan minister asks people to have more kids, says PM Modi will build houses for them

Jaipur: Rajasthan minister Babulal Kharadi has asked people to have more children, saying there should be no problem as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will build houses for them.

Kharadi, the tribal area development minister in the desert state, said it is a dream of the prime minister that no one will go to sleep hungry and without a roof over their head.

"It is a dream of the prime minister that no one should sleep hungry and without a roof over their head. You give birth to lots of children. Pradhan mantriji will build your houses, then what is the problem?" Kharadi asked while addressing a public meeting in Udaipur on Tuesday.

Kharadi has eight children -- four sons and as many daughters -- from two wives. The entire family lives in Neechla Thala village, about three kilometres from Kotda tehsil of Udaipur.

Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma shared the dais with the tribal area development minister on the occasion. The stage was set up for a "Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra camp" in Udaipur's Nai village.

As Kharadi made the statement, those in the audience burst out laughing and the people's representatives present on the occasion were seen looking at each other.

Kharadi urged the people to vote for Modi again in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as he said the BJP-led Centre is initiating various public welfare measures.

He said the Centre has reduced the LPG cylinder prices by Rs 200 and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan is now making the cylinders available to people under the Ujjwala Scheme for Rs 450.

Kharadi was elected as an MLA for the fourth time in the 2023 Assembly polls from Jhadol. He was adjudged the best MLA in 2022 during the 15th Rajasthan Assembly.

Kharadi was recently inducted as a cabinet minister in the state.