The newly formed Siddaramaiah government conducted its inaugural Cabinet meeting and provisionally agreed to implement its electoral commitments including Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya).
State Congress President D K Shivakumar was officially sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister, along with eight other legislators who were appointed as Ministers. The newly appointed ministers include G Parameshwara, K H Muniyappa, K J George, M B Patil, Satish Jarkiholi, Priyank Kharge (son of AICC President M Mallikarjun Kharge), Ramalinga Reddy, and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan.
Siddaramaiah, addressing a press conference, provided estimates and stated that fulfilling these electoral commitments would result in an annual expenditure of approximately Rs 50,000 crore from the state treasury. He emphasised that despite any potential financial implications, the government remains committed to implementing the pre-election assurances.
On their first day in power, the Congress party pledged to implement several key guarantees. These include providing 200 units of free electricity to all households (Gruha Jyoti), offering monthly assistance of Rs 2,000 to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), distributing 10 kg of rice free of cost to each member of below-poverty-line households (Anna Bhagya), granting Rs 3,000 per month to unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders (aged 18-25) for a duration of two years (YuvaNidhi), and ensuring free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti).
Siddaramaiah, who chaired the cabinet meeting, said the ‘guarantees’ would “most likely” be implemented after the next cabinet meeting.
Launching an attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government, he alleged the state suffered a loss as its legitimate special grant of Rs 5,495 crore mentioned in the interim report of the 15th Finance Commission was not provided.
Noting that Union Finance Minister and Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka Nirmala Sitharaman removed it from the final report, he said, “Because of Narendra Modi, Karnataka suffered a loss.”
With inputs from News18
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