Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that the first cabinet meeting has given approval in principle to implement the five guarantee schemes promised in the Congress party's election manifesto."The details are being worked out. The next cabinet meeting will be held next week," he said.
Addressing the first press conference at Vidhana Soudha after taking over as the Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah stated that it has been agreed upon in the cabinet to implement five guarantees. "No matter how much money is required for the schemes, we will implement them as per our promise," he said.
He maintained that per month, 200 units of electricity is free for households under Gruha Jyothi scheme and it will cost about Rs 1,200 crore per month. Similarly, Rs 2,000 would be given under the Gruhalaxmi scheme for women heads of family reeling under price rise.All unemployed graduates from engineers to MBBS will get Rs 2,000 for two years while diploma holders will get Rs 1,500. Bus passes will be issued to all women from Karnataka and they can travel free in all government transport vehicles barring luxury vehicles."The details are being worked out. It is agreed upon and we will not go back on our decision no matter how much money is required," Siddaramaiah reiterated.
Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar added that to hold the accountability, the details of the beneficiaries have to be collected and it takes some time. Siddaramaiah stated that an order would be issued to restart Indira canteens all over the state to provide subsidised food to the poor. He maintained that from Monday (May 22), a three-day assembly session has been called and a request in this regard had been sent to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot.
"This is to constitute the new assembly. Senior leader R.V. Deshpande will act as the pro-tem Speaker. The new speaker would be announced in the session," he said. Siddaramaiah said that this year, the state will get Rs 50,000 crore from the Centre. "When compared to other states, Karnataka is meted out with injustice. The state pays Rs 4 lakh crore as tax to the Central government," Siddaramaiah stated.
Earlier in the day, Siddaramaiah was sworn in as Chief Minister of the State and Karnataka Congress Pradesh Committee president DK Shivakumar was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister.
Before being sworn in, Karnataka CM-designate Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM-designate DK Shivakumar displayed a show of unity with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. They also held each other's hand in unity separately and raised it to the cheering crowd.
The swearing-in was attended by the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, and former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath among others.
Watch- Karnataka swearing-in Live: Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar being sworn in as CM, Deputy CM
Several prominent Opposition leaders including NCP president Sharad Pawar, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, his deputy Tejaswi Yadav, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, former J&K CM PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, and Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan were also in attendance.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee was conspicuous by her absence and has nominated her party leader and Lok Sabha party Deputy Leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidarto to represent her in the event. Kharge has also invited leaders of JMM, RJD, Shiv Sena, SP, PDP, CPI(M), CPI, MDMK, RSP, CPI(ML), VCK, RLD, Kerala Congress and IUML for the ceremony.
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With the swearing-in, the septuagenarian Siddaramaiah became the CM for the second term. He is the only second CM to complete a five-year stint in Karnataka when he was served in 2013. The 61-year-old Shivakumar will continue as the party's Karnataka state president till the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, as per the power-sharing formula the Congress top brass has worked out.
Along with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, Congress MLAs KPCC working president Ramalingareddy, former deputy CM Dr G Parameshwara, former Union Minister KH Muniyappa, former Minister KJ George, Election Campaign Committee president MB Patil, Satish Jarkiholi, AICC chief Kharge's son Priyank Kharge, and BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, were being sworn in as Ministers. The portfolios of the newly sworn-in ministers are yet to be announced.
Arrangements were in place to accommodate about one lakh guests attending the swearing-in ceremony. The venue has been brought under a security blanket considering the host of Chief Ministers and former CMs from non-BJP states attending the event. (With Agency Inputs)
