Days after the Congress in Karnataka promised to provide Rs 2,000 to female heads of every family under 'Gruha Lakshmi Scheme' if it is voted to power in the next Assembly elections, the BJP government has announced a scheme to counter it. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai told reporters on Wednesday that his government would provide Rs 2,000 to every BPL family in the state under the ‘Gruhini Shakti’ scheme. He was responding to a question on Revenue Minister R Ashok's announcement of providing Rs 2,000 to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. "I had announced it on January 14. The objective of the scheme is to help poor families to buy essential goods and for their health purposes,” the Chief Minister told reporters near Chikkamagaluru. On January 14, Bommai had said that the government was mulling a scheme to offer financial aid for women to manage their households and that it would be announced in the upcoming state budget. “There are several schemes offered by the government (to aid BPL families). Along with it, whether we can help them this way (monetarily) was a thought we have had for some time now," he said. Bommai noted that a similar scheme was implemented in BJP-ruled Assam. "We plan to implement it here," Bommai said. On January 16, the Congress promised to implement the ‘Gruha Lakshmi Scheme’ during a women's rally attended by AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi. This scheme was the “second guarantee” by the Congress in poll-bound Karnataka, after it promised 200 units of free power to all households if it is voted to power. While the Congress scheme promises Rs 2,000 to all families, ‘Gruhini Shakti’ is meant only for BPL families.
