Siddaramaiah, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, convened a meeting of top state officials on Friday to decide whether to carry out the five pledges that the ruling Congress made prior to the Assembly elections.Before the state Cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister met with the senior officers. On the five pledges made by the State government, the cabinet is anticipated to make a decision.
The five ‘main’ guarantees promised by the party in its poll manifesto are –
- – 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti)
- -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)
- -Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (Yuva Nidhi) and free travel for women in public transport buses (Uchita Prayana).
Members of the Karnataka State Contractors Association, who levelled claims of ‘40% corruption’ against the former BJP government in the state, also met with CM Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru, led by the Association’s president D Kempanna.Notably, “40% corruption” was one of the most prominent concerns in the recently concluded assembly elections, which many observers believe harmed the BJP’s campaign.The Congress Cabinet in the state reached its full complement of 34 on May 27 with the addition of 24 new ministers.The Karnataka Cabinet was increased following negotiations with the party’s central leadership by the Chief Minister and Shivakumar.
Addressing a press briefing after the first Cabinet meeting in Vidhan Soudha, here, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said, “Five guarantees in the manifesto were promised and the order for the implementation of those five guarantees was given after the first cabinet meeting. All will be in force after the next cabinet meeting which will be called within a week.”
