Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has clarified that the government has not received any proposal to revisit the ‘Shakti’ scheme, which offers free bus travel for women. This statement comes after Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar claimed some women have expressed a desire to pay for their rides. The scheme, one of the Congress government’s five guarantee programs, has seen over 311 crore free rides and cost the state over ₹7,500 crore.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has criticized the Enforcement Directorate’s raids in the Valmiki Development Corporation case, calling them unjustified. The raids, linked to former Karnataka Minister B Nagendra and MLA Basanagouda Daddal, targetted alleged misappropriation of funds. Shivakumar argues that the state government’s SIT is already probing the matter and banks can investigate such cases involving substantial sums of money.
