Chandigarh, March 10 -- A fresh war of words broke out between Haryana and Punjab on Monday over the competing financial assistance schemes for women the neighbouring states have announced, turning populist pre-poll promises into a political slugfest.

After Punjab's AAP government dismissed Haryana's Rs.2,100 a month Lado Lakshmi Yojana a "jumla" while unveiling its own Rs.1,000 to Rs.1,500 monthly aid for women in the state budget, Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on Monday retaliated both inside and outside the assembly and termed the Punjab's announcement "election-time freebie politics."

Inside the assembly Saini's attack on Punjab was indirect and measured when during an intervention he hit out at the AAP government, saying...