Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Tejasvi Surya on Thursday, 5 November 2026, launched a sharp attack on the Congress government in Karnataka over unpaid instalments under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, alleging a glaring contradiction between the government's earlier public statements and its admission before the Karnataka High Court that financial constraints had prevented the release of funds.

The Contradiction at the Centre of the Row

Surya, the Bengaluru South MP, pointed out that in December 2025, then Women and Child Welfare Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar had attributed the non-payment of Gruha Lakshmi dues to technical glitches — a claim made on the floor of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. However, in November 2026, the same government cited financial constraints before the High Court in its statement of objections to a petition challenging the non-payment.

Posting on social media platform X, Surya wrote: 'In December 2025, then Minister for Women and Child Welfare Laxmi Hebbalkar blamed, on the Assembly floor, technical glitches for unpaid Gruha Lakshmi dues. In November 2026, her own Government cites 'financial constraints' in court, contradicting her statement. Servers never crashed. The State's finances did! Need more proofs that this is a zero-balance, Pauper Sarkara!?'

He also shared the government's statement of objections filed before the High Court, which names the Principal Secretary to the Government, Finance Department, Bengaluru, and others as respondents.

What the Government Told the High Court

In its court submission, the Karnataka government acknowledged that proposals for releasing Gruha Lakshmi instalments for February and March 2025 had been forwarded to the Finance Department, but the grants were not released due to financial constraints, resulting in non-payment for those two months.

The government further argued that the petitioners — led by one R. Ganga and others, who are themselves beneficiaries — had approached the court in the nature of a public interest litigation on behalf of nearly 1.24 crore enrolled beneficiaries.

Defending the programme, the government described Gruha Lakshmi as a benevolent scheme designed to empower women by providing financial support to female heads of households. It contended, however, that implementation was subject to administrative exigencies and that beneficiaries could not claim the assistance as an enforceable legal right. The government also argued that the doctrine of legitimate expectation did not confer an indefeasible right to demand funds when the state faced genuine financial constraints, and sought dismissal of the writ petition on these grounds.

Minister Hebbalkar's Assembly Admission

The row is not new. During the 2025 Assembly session, Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar had apologised on the floor of the House for providing an incorrect reply regarding the disbursal of Gruha Lakshmi funds. She admitted that instalments for two months had not been credited to beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), while maintaining that the scheme was being implemented sincerely.

Her admission followed sustained pressure from BJP legislators, who alleged that payments for February and March were pending — contrary to official claims that instalments had been cleared until August. She expressed regret if her earlier reply had hurt members of the House.

About the Gruha Lakshmi Scheme and Its Stakes

Gruha Lakshmi is one of the Congress government's five pre-poll guarantees in Karnataka and provides ₹2,000 per month to women heads of families. The scheme has approximately 1.24 crore enrolled beneficiaries, making the payment gap politically and financially significant.

Notably, this controversy comes amid broader questions about Karnataka's fiscal health, with the opposition arguing that the state's ambitious social guarantees have outpaced its revenue capacity. The High Court's handling of the petition is expected to set a precedent on whether welfare scheme beneficiaries hold enforceable claims on state disbursements.