Karnataka Congress president and deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar announced on Monday his party’s pledge to pay a monthly allowance of ₹2,500 to women in Delhi if it is elected in the upcoming Assembly elections.

The Pyari Didi Yojana has been framed on the lines of Karnataka’s Gruhalakshmi scheme and is being used to counter the AAP’s promise of a ₹2,100 dole for women.

Shivakumar told reporters at the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee office: “Priyanka Gandhi announced the Gruhalakshmi scheme and told us that this should not be just a promise but a guarantee. Hence (Karnataka chief minister) Siddaramaiah and I have signed a guarantee cheque. And, as promised, all the schemes were approved in the first three months of assuming office….

"PM Narendra Modi criticised the Congress's guarantee schemes saying it would push the state to bankruptcy. But he himself has copied our guarantee schemes and announced similar schemes in Maharashtra and other states. The Congress has rolled out these guarantee schemes not for political gains but for the welfare of people because of price rise,” he said.

Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba, who has been named the party’s candidate against Delhi chief minister Atishi from the Kalkaji seat, said the AAP government in Punjab had not implemented its income support scheme for women even two years after coming to power. "I want Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and temporary (Delhi) CM Atishi and former CM (Arvind Kejriwal) to show the bank passbooks of women and tell how much amount have they transferred in their accounts,” she said.

On the absence of images of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on the campaign paraphernalia, Congress Delhi chief Devender Yadav said: "Sheilaji resides in every heart in Delhi. We are proud that Delhi was nurtured under her able leadership for 15 years and it is our responsibility to look to the future."