'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme: Goddess Chamundeshwari to get Rs 2k monthly like other K'taka women
Bengaluru (PTI): The presiding deity of Mysuru Goddess Chamundeshwari will be among the beneficiaries of the Karnataka government's 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme, offering Rs 2,000 to the woman head of the families holding an APL/BPL card.
Congress MLC and party's state media cell vice-president Dinesh Gooligowda on Friday said he had written to Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar requesting that Rs 2,000 be paid to the Goddess every month under the scheme.
He said Shivakumar, also Karnataka Congress chief, agreed to the proposal and instructed the Women and Child Welfare Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar to deposit the amount to the Chamundeshwari temple account every month.
"The Deputy Chief Minister immediately responded to my letter requested and instructed Laxmi Hebbalkar to deposit Rs 2,000 to Devi every month from her department or personally," Gooligowda said in a press release.
The Karnataka government launched the Gruha Lakshmi scheme on August 30 from the palace city of Mysuru by depositing the first instalment to Goddess Chamundeshwari temple.
Dedicating it to the Goddess, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had prayed for the success of the scheme which is aimed at empowering women from economically weaker sections.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
