Ahead of the crucial assembly elections in Karnataka, the Congress on Monday announced the ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme of giving Rs 2,000 to the woman head of each family per month, just days after it promised 200 units of free electricity to every household.
The announcement was made by Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Bengaluru during the party’s women wing convention “Na Nayaki” (I am the leader),
These big-ticket promises were made with aim of making a comeback in the southern state.
The poll announcement comes days after the Congress in its first cabinet meeting decided to fulfill the poll promise of providing Rs 1,500 to every woman in Himachal Pradesh and implementing the OPS.
Priyanka Gandhi had announced Rs 1,50p to every woman in the hill state and also implemented the old pension scheme (OPS) in the run-up to assembly polls.
Priyanka Gandhi, in her address, said that she agreed to come to Bengaluru only after Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah accepted her request to prepare a separate election manifesto for women.
She said she had also released a women’s manifesto in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the polls last year.
Ahead of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi had announced to field 40 percent of the women candidates in the 403-member assembly. However, the Congress’ fortunes didn’t light in the politically crucial state but it made every political party take notice and respond to women.
The Congress leader said that said Rs 24,000 a year would be directly credited to their bank accounts under “Gruha Lakshmi Yojana”, an “unconditional universal basic income”.
Congress Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said that ‘Gruha Lakshmi Yojana’ is an attempt of the Congress party to fight ‘Modi Made Inflation’. “This is our guarantee to defeat ‘BJP made Price Rise’!
Elections in the southern state are due later this year in May. The Congress is eyeing a comeback in the state.