Gruha Lakshmi scheme: Karnataka govt to transfer Rs 2,000 to 1.30 cr women from Aug 15

The Karnataka government will start transferring Rs 2,000 per month to 1.30 crore women from August 15, Congress MP Randeep Surjewala, who is the party's in-charge of the state, said on Wednesday. The money will be transferred directly into women's bank accounts between August 15 and 20. 

The Karnataka Congress had promised Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme. This was part of the party's five guarantees made before the assembly elections.

Surjewala made this announcement after Congress Karnataka leaders including chief minister Siddarmaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar met party president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. The Karnataka leaders said that the meeting was about the preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats. In the last election, the BJP had won 25 while Congress could win just one and JDS bagged two seats.

Today, Surjewala said that an important decision was taken that a senior leader of the party organisation and a minister will be the in-charge of a parliamentary seat. "For the next 6-7 months, until the Lok Sabha election, they will be responsible for the preparations of party organisation," he said.

"Between 15th-20th August, around 1.30 crore women will start getting Rs 2000 per month directly into their bank accounts," the Congress leader added.

Surjewala further said that a meeting of more than 36 senior leaders of Karnataka Congress, with party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, was held today. "Both the leaders congratulated them for the manner in which Congress received a grand victory in Karnataka. But detailed discussions for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections were also held and some important decisions were made," he said.

Last week, India Today reported that DK Shivakumar had told MLAs that there was no fund for development as the government had to set aside funds to implement the five guarantees given by the party. When asked about this today, the Karnataka Deputy CM said, "Karnataka is a very strong state. We have made plans, we are going to implement them. It is the land of Basavanna, we are going to implement whatever we said. Siddaramaiah has given a budget and every financial aspect has been kept ready. We are going to implement even after elections."

Karnataka Congress MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao, too, said that there was no financial crisis in the southern state.

Last Thursday, Shivakumar said the MLAs were asked to wait for funds as the move to fulfill poll promises took away a large chunk of the money. He said the Congress government in Karnataka had to keep aside Rs 40,000 crore this financial year for the five manifesto promises. This came just two days after eleven legislators wrote to Siddaramaiah, complaining that 20 ministers were not responding to their requests regarding work in their constituencies.