Mysore/Mysuru: With the State Congress Government all set to launch its ambitious Gruha Lakshmi Scheme (Rs. 2,000 monthly financial assistance to woman head of all eligible families) in Mysuru on Aug. 30, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar held a meeting with officials at the Zilla Panchayat (ZP) Hall here this noon.

Gruha Lakshmi Scheme is one of the five pre-poll promises made by Congress Government ahead of Assembly polls held in May. The official launch will take place at Maharaja’s College Grounds on Aug. 30 in the presence of over 1.5 lakh beneficiary women from several districts of Mysuru region.

Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Siddharamaiah, a host of his Cabinet  Ministers and Congress leaders are attending the mega launch. 

Shivakumar, who arrived at the ZP Hall for the meeting, was welcomed by a huge gathering of Congress workers who vied with each other to garland him. A few minutes later, he entered the ZP Hall and chaired the closed-door meeting.

The Deputy CM also held a video-conference with officials of various Departments from Mysuru, Hassan, Chamarajanagar and Mandya districts and  sought vital statistics and received inputs on registration of beneficiaries.

Mysuru District In-charge Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa, Animal Husbandry Minister K. Venkatesh, Agriculture Minister N. Chaluvarayaswamy, Women and Child Welfare Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar, MLAs Tanveer Sait, K. Harishgowda, Anil Chikkamadu, D. Ravishankar, Darshan Dhruvanarayan and P.M. Narendraswamy, Regional Commissioner Dr. G.C. Prakash, Mysuru DC Dr. K.V. Rajendra, Chamarajanagar DC Shilpa Nag, Mandya DC Dr. Kumara and others were present.

The Police, who anticipated that farmers would gather at the venue to protest against release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, as D.K. Shivakumar is  also  the Water Resources Minister, had provided tight security at ZP. 

Earlier, Shivakumar  arrived from Bengaluru by a special flight at Mandakalli airport.

Congress has not launched ‘Operation Hastha’

Speaking to presspersons at the Airport, Shivakumar said  that the Congress had not set off ‘Operation Hastha.’ Asserting that the Congress was only welcoming leaders of Opposition parties who were voluntarily coming forward to join Congress without any conditions, he said that he cannot say right now the number and names of leaders willing to join Congress.

On the shifting of Gruha Lakshmi launch from Belagavi to Mysuru, the Deputy CM said that there was no politics behind it. The Government plans to hold launch of another programme at Belagavi, he said.

Contending that the Congress would win both Lok Sabha seats from Belagavi district in 2024, Shivakumar said that the Government also mulled on holding one of its pre-poll guarantees launch in Bengaluru. But the State capital was avoided for traffic reasons, he said adding that all measures will be taken to ensure that Gruha Lakshmi Scheme reaches the beneficiaries on time.

Asserting that the Government was not short of funds, he said that the Scheme money will be credited to the accounts of beneficiaries on time, following the Aug. 30 launch.