Siddaramaiah says women blessed him for 'Gruha Lakshmi' and 'Shakti' guarantees

Mangaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who visited the temple town of Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada on Saturday, said women blessed him for the two prominent guarantees ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ and ‘Shakti’, with which they were able to lead a comfortable life and travel from a far away town to see the deity.

The ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme offers Rs 2,000 per month to women head of BPL families in the state, benefiting over one crore women. Under the ‘Shakti’ scheme, women can travel free of cost in state-run non luxury buses anywhere in Karnataka.

According to Karnataka Transport Department officials, women have availed of as many as 210.29 crore free rides in the state, costing the state exchequer Rs 5,097 crore till May 17 from the date of launch of the scheme on June 11, 2023.

Taking to ‘X’, the chief minister said, “Today while going to see Lord Manjunatha in Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala, some women came to me with a smile and said that they were leading a comfortable life with Rs 2,000 under Gruha Lakshmi guarantee. They said that because of ‘Shakti’ guarantee, they were able to come from a faraway town to see the deity. They blessed us saying ‘May Lord Manjunatha Swami give us long life, good health, and the ability to give more benefits to the poor’.”

“They blessed us that may our government implement many such programmes. On this day, I am thankful to have the blessing of tens of mothers along with paying obeisance to Lord Manjunatha,” he added.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who also accompanied Siddaramaiah said, that Veerendra Hegde, the Dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala (head of the Manjunatha temple), was delighted to see rise in number of devotees visiting the temple town due to the Shakti scheme.

“The CM and I offered prayers to Lord Manjunatha, Annappa Swamy and the Goddess. The monsoon rains have started. We prayed for good rains, good crops and peace in the state. Dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala shared his joy at the rise in the number of devotees to the temple,” he said.

“Many of the women devotees to the temple expressed their gratitude for Gruha Lakshmi and Shakthi schemes. The blessings of the people will keep us in good stead. I believe Lord Manjunatha will bless us for implementing the guarantee schemes,” he added.