Five promises will be implemented after next Cabinet meeting, declares CM Siddaramaiah

BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday declared that the five guarantees will be implemented after the next Cabinet meeting, which will be held next week.

“The next cabinet meeting will be held next week. We have to work out the financial implications. We’ll not got back on our promises, howmuch ever it cost. It’s agreed upon. We will implement it after the next cabinet meeting”, Siddaramaiah declared at a press conference after chairing the first meeting of the cabinet hours after being sworn in as Chief Minister.

“I will come out with details in the next cabinet meeting. In-principle approval given now and I have issued instructions to issue orders in this regard”, he said.

Giving details about the five promises, the CM said the Gruha Jyothi, wherein 200 units of free power has been promised, will entail a monthly expenditure of Rs 1,200 crore monthly. Under the Gruha Lakshmi, the women heads of families will get Rs 2,000 per month and under the Anna Bhagya scheme, BPL families will get 10 kgs of rice per head for free, he said.

Under the Yuva Nidhi scheme, Siddaramaiah said, “For unemployed graduates, Rs 3,000 per month will be given for two years starting from this academic year. For diploma holders, Rs 1,500 per month will be given”. If they get jobs in between, they will not be eligible, he said.

The CM said the free bus travel scheme is only for women from Karnataka. “I’m underlining this, it is for women  from Karnataka only, not for women from other states”, he said.

“We will fulfill the promises made in the manifesto over the next five years. During the Congress government from2013-18, of the 165 promises we made, we fulfilled 158 of them. Apart from manifesto, we had announced 30 more programmes”, he noted.

The Congress made five promises in its manifesto.

“People have faith and trust in us but the opposition BJP is misguiding them saying that we can’t fulfill the promises and that the state will go bankrupt. They said it is practically not possible. I am confident we will implement the promises without affecting the states’ finances. We will present a budget for Rs 3.25 lakh crore in July and mop up revenue by stricter tax collection, reducing wasteful expenses and reducing borrowings” he said.

Pegging the expenditure on account of the five promises at Rs 50,000 crore per year, the CM said, “Our budget was 3.10 lakh crore and every year, it rises by over 10 per cent. We can increase revenue by strict tax collection”, he said.

The CM also said, “We will revive the Indira Canteens and I have sought details. We will take a decision on it in the next cabinet meeting. The Assembly will be convened for three days from May 22 for the new House to be constituted and for members to take oath”.

Attacking the Union government, Siddaramaiah claimed, “This year the state will get Rs 50,000 crore under the 15th Finance Commission recommendations. According to my calculations, the state should have got Rs 1 lakh crore, but injustice has been done to Karnataka. The irresponsible BJP government in the state didn’t fight for it properly. Karnataka pays Rs 4 lakh crore in taxes, surcharge, etc. every year”, he pointed out.

Siddaramaiah claimed that in the interim report of the 15th Finance Commission, special aid of Rs 5,495 crore was recommended for Karnataka. “But Nirmala Sitharaman got it removed in the final report. She is a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka. Because of her and Prime Minister Narendra ModI, Karnataka suffered a loss. We are legitimately entitled to that interim relief, it’s not a small amount. Neither the previous state government nor the 25 BJP MPs pursued the matter”, he charged.

Siddaramaiah also said the debt burden of the country had increased under Narendra Modi and that of the state under the previous BJP government.