Woman assault in Belagavi: Five-member BJP fact-finding team arrives at Belagavi
Belagavi: The five-member fact-finding team of BJP on Saturday reached here to collect firsthand information into the matter where a tribal woman was assaulted and paraded naked.
A delegation of MPs comprising Aparajita Sarangi, Sunita Duggal, Ranjeeta Koli, Locket Chatterjee and BJP national secretary Asha Lakra arrived at the Belagavi airport in the morning.
The team will not only meet the victim and console her, but will also get detailed information about the incident.
The woman was also tied to a pole after her son eloped with a girl from the same community at Vantamuri village in Belagavi on December 11.
Police have arrested eight people while eight others are still at large.
The Karnataka High Court has taken up the case on its own. It also termed the incident worse than what had happened to Draupadi during Mahabharata, as Lord Krishna came to her rescue, but in the Belagavi incident, no one came to help the victim.
The BJP will also be staging statewide demonstrations in all the districts condemning the incident.
BJP president J P Nadda and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have also condemned the assault. In a statement, Nadda said such henious crimes especially against women, are happening at regular intervals ever since the Congress government has come to power in Karnataka. This also exposes the irresponsible behaviour of Congress governments everywhere in the country in tackling such crimes.
ALSO READ: JP Nadda issues statement condemning Belagavi incident, netizens ask "What about Manipur?"
In a post of 'X', Sitharaman said: ''In @INCIndia there is no 'nyay' (Justice) for the SCs and STs. The recent incident in Belagavi, Karnataka falls in the same category as those repeated atrocities against the Dalits seen till recently in Congress-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. For Congress the downtrodden are just a votebank.'' Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah slammed Nadda for attempting to gain political mileage out of the Belagavi incident.
ALSO READ: FM Sitharaman slams Cong over Belagavi woman assault incident
In a strongly worded statement, the chief minister said the BJP's rule in Karnataka witnessed multiple instances of violence against women, but Nadda had forgotten this to politically target the Congress government. Unfortunately, he is using a recent incident of violence against a woman in Belagavi for politics, he charged.
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Maharashtra government considers tweaks to Ladki Bahin scheme amid fiscal strain: Reports
Mumbai: A day after the Mahayuti coalition secured a landslide victory in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, attention has turned to the Ladki Bahin Yojana, a flagship welfare scheme that played a pivotal role in attracting women voters.
The scheme, launched in July 2024, offers ₹1,500 per month to economically disadvantaged women aged 18 to 65. The Mahayuti, in its election manifesto, pledged to increase the amount to ₹2,100 per month, a promise now under scrutiny due to fiscal concerns. With the scheme projected to cost the exchequer ₹33,300 crore from July 2024 to March 2025, bureaucrats are exploring ways to revise its provisions to prevent a financial imbalance.
Finance Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar hinted at the challenges, stressing the need for "financial discipline." A senior bureaucrat confirmed that plans are underway to prune the list of beneficiaries, citing the inclusion of ineligible individuals due to incomplete Aadhaar seeding and lack of required ration cards. According to the finance department, nearly one crore women out of the 2.43 crore registered beneficiaries may not qualify for the scheme.
The state’s debt burden is already projected to reach ₹7.82 lakh crore for the fiscal year 2024-25. Officials warn that continuing the scheme in its current form could impact the government’s ability to pay salaries by January. Despite these concerns, the ruling coalition is hesitant to reduce the beneficiary list, likely due to the upcoming civic elections.
Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik is expected to present renegotiation proposals to the new chief minister soon. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena spokesperson Krishna Hegde credited the scheme for increasing the number of women voters and boosting the coalition’s vote share. NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar also acknowledged the scheme’s role in mobilising women voters.
Other welfare measures introduced by the government include an electricity bill waiver for farmers and three free LPG cylinders annually for six million households. However, the financial viability of such initiatives remains a pressing concern.
