GANDHINAGAR, JULY 19: The decision might have come today but Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been preparing for polls ever since he returned from Goa, triumphant that he had withstood pressure to quit. Not only has he travelled across the state harping on ‘‘Gujarati pride,’’ he also opened the floodgates of the State Treasury for a string of populist schemes.

Responding to the criticism over his alleged role in the riots, the constant refrain in his rallies has been that ‘‘anti-national forces’’ are deliberately ‘‘bringing a bad name to Gujarat.’’ And that not these ‘‘forces,’’ but the 5 crore people of the state would decide who the Chief Minister will be. He has drawn sizable crowds at these rallies.

Narendra Modi hands over his resignation to Gujarat Governor S S Bhandari in Gandhinagar on Friday. Reuters

Simultaneously, his cash-strapped government has announced as many as seven populist schemes worth Rs 325 crore in the last one month alone—schemes which are in effect only until March next year.

Besides, his government effected unprecedented rounds of transfers of IAS, IPS and Gujarat Administrative Officers, with an eye on the polls.

Even Panchmahals Collector Jayanti Ravi and DSP Raju Bhargav were transferred despite their good performance. There are many such instances of effective officials being moved out.

The government’s decision to open the purse-strings comes even as its coffers are drained. Last month, the Gujarat Contractors Association came to the Secretariat demanding that their two-year pending payments worth Rs 850 crore be cleared forthwith. And said that if the government had no money, it should freeze all projects and not float any new tenders.

The association threatened that if payments weren’t made, work on the Sardar Sarovar Project and other major water pipeline projects would be severely affected. The contractors have already boycotted government tenders for development projects worth Rs 200 cr during last three months.

The salient schemes:

• Gram Mitra scheme worth Rs. 60 crore, under which five youths will be appointed in each of the 18,000 villages of the state with a monthly honorarium of Rs 1,000 each. Their job: monitor and help strengthen implementation of development projects.

• Green Guard scheme to appoint 25,000 youths, who will be paid a stipend of Rs 1,000 a month, amounting to Rs 30 crore a year. They will be appointed in areas under municipalities, municipal corporations and nagar panchayats and their job will be to help the local administration improve the ‘‘green cover’’ in the state.

• Under the Vishwakarma scheme, kits costing Rs 1,700 each to be given to 1 lakh workers for self-employment.

• Shramyogi scheme entails distributing Rs 25 in cash and Rs 25 worth of foodgrains daily to 1 lakh poor labourers.

• Nirmal Gujarat, under which the government proposes to construct 20,000 houses with basic amenities for slum-dwellers in urban centres.

• Vidhyalaxmi Scheme, under which a bond of Rs 1,000 each would be purchased for 1 lakh girl students enrolling in the first standard.