'Bankrupt Karnataka govt' will stop 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme, says ex-PM Deve Gowda

Ramanagara: JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has said that the “bankrupt Karnataka government’ will stop the ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme.

Gowda’s statement drew a sharp reaction from Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar who on Monday said the BJP and the JD(S) always wanted to stop all the guarantees given by the Congress government in the state.

The ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme is one of the five guarantees of the Congress government, which offers Rs 2,000 to the women heads of the BPL families.

The JD(S) patriarch at an election rally on Sunday said, “The Congress government has emptied the treasury. There are no Gruha Lakshmi funds for women’s bank accounts across the state, but they (Congress) have credited money specifically to the accounts of women in the Channapatna constituency with an eye on the election.” Gowda was in Channapatna seeking votes for his grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy who is contesting the assembly bypoll on a JD(S) ticket.

The former prime minister said, “This government is bankrupt. After the election, they’ll stop depositing money again. They don’t even have money to fill potholes in Bengaluru; people are furious.” Reacting to the comments, Shivakumar said, “Deve Gowda had said Gruha Lakshmi guarantee would be stopped. He is not fortunate to offer such a good scheme. We are giving it to our mothers and sisters to make their lives easy but the BJP and JD(S) want to take it away.”