BRS plans protests over Kalyana Lakshmi scheme row in Telangana

BRS working president KT Rama Rao has called for statewide protests on Monday, August 17, accusing the Congress government in Telangana of conspiring to scrap the Kalyana Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak schemes. Telanganatoday reports Rama Rao alleged the government was using a High Court verdict as a pretext. Siasat.com notes the Telangana High Court on August 12 imposed a four-week stay on the schemes after a petition argued they lacked legislative backing.

Rama Rao said during a teleconference with party leaders that the schemes, launched by former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao on October 2, 2014, provided Rs 1,00,116 to each beneficiary. He claimed financial assistance of Rs 13,000 crore was given to nearly 13 lakh women under the BRS tenure. He questioned why the government had not filed a counter-affidavit despite four extensions and said beneficiaries were being denied benefits and made to wait. The next hearing in the High Court is scheduled for September 9.