Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, R. Ashoka, on Saturday, 26 September, alleged that the Congress-led state government was deliberately holding back monthly disbursements under the flagship Gruha Lakshmi scheme by introducing new technical requirements and invoking the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as a pretext.

What Ashoka Alleged

In a post on social media platform X, Ashoka charged that the government — which had ridden to power partly on the promise of welfare guarantees for women — was now forcing beneficiaries to navigate a bureaucratic maze to receive their entitlements. Specifically, he alleged that women were being required to possess a SIM card registered in their own name and linked to their bank account before payments could be released.

'Poor women who do not have their own mobile phone or SIM card are now being forced to purchase new SIM cards and spend money every month on Aadhaar and KYC updates,' Ashoka alleged.

SIR Process Used as Cover, Claims BJP

Ashoka further accused the administration of using the SIR electoral-roll verification exercise as a shield to stall monthly payouts to what he described as 'lakhs of women beneficiaries.' He directed pointed questions at Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, demanding to know whether the imposition of technical conditions amounted to a 'systematic conspiracy' to delay payments and, in his words, conceal an 'empty state treasury.'

'Is this a delay tactic being used to hide the empty state treasury?' he asked, adding that poor and rural women were being made to run from office to office with little clarity on when their dues would be cleared.

About the Gruha Lakshmi Scheme

The Gruha Lakshmi Scheme was launched by the Government of Karnataka in August 2023 as a women's empowerment initiative. It provides ₹2,000 per month — or ₹24,000 annually — directly to eligible women beneficiaries. The state had earmarked ₹28,608 crore for the scheme in the current fiscal year, which accounts for more than half of Karnataka's total expenditure on its collective guarantee programmes.

BJP's Demands

Ashoka called on the government to immediately withdraw what he termed 'complicated' technical requirements, stop all payment delays, and release the full pending amount owed to every eligible Gruha Lakshmi beneficiary without further conditions. His remarks arrive as the SIR exercise continues across the state, under which electoral rolls are being independently revised and verified by election authorities.

The Congress government had not issued an official response to Ashoka's allegations at the time of reporting. The political row is likely to intensify ahead of upcoming legislative sessions and could feed into a broader debate on the fiscal sustainability of Karnataka's guarantee programmes.