Bengaluru, June 11 -- Congress leader Ramesh Babu on Thursday strongly defended the Karnataka government's Gruha Lakshmi scheme and hit out at BJP leader R Ashok, accusing him of misleading the public and creating confusion among beneficiaries.

Reacting to Ashok's criticism over the alleged exclusion of beneficiaries, Ramesh Babu said the BJP leader had no moral standing to question the implementation of the welfare scheme.

"On behalf of the Congress party, I have often said that in Karnataka's history, R Ashok is one of the failed opposition leaders. He has no moral ground to question the Gruha Lakshmi scheme," he told ANI.

He asserted that the scheme continues to benefit a large number of women across the state and dismissed allegati...