Have given 'in principle' approval to poll guarantees in first Cabinet meeting, will be in force after next meet, says Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah

The freshly sworn-in Karnataka Cabinet on Saturday had its first meeting, post which the Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, announced the approval of poll promises made by the Congress.

"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 next cabinet meeting which will be called within a week," Siddaramaiah told reporters during a press conference in the Vidhan Soudha.

During the campaign for the Karnataka Assembly elections - which the Congress won by a landslide, bagging 136 seats - the party had made five guarantees to the people, which included 200 units of free power to all households in the state.


In addition, the national party's manifesto made four more guarantees:

• 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 (YuvaNidhi)
• Free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti).

These five guarantees were given in-principal approval the same day as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his Cabinet took oath in the state capital.

Prior to the Cabinet meeting, Siddaramaiah announced that his government would fulfill the election guarantees they made.

"We will give an administration which people have expected from us. Five guarantees will be passed in the cabinet meeting and an order will be issued to implement them today itself," Siddaramaiah said soon after taking oath as the Chief Minister.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the five 'guarantees' promised by the party before the elections in Karnataka would be implemented within a few hours after the first Cabinet meeting.

"I had said we don't make false promises. We do what we say. The first cabinet meeting of the new government will take place in one to two hours. In that meeting, all the five 'guarantees' will become a law," Gandhi said after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's swearing-in ceremony.

In the May 10 Assembly elections, the Congress ousted the BJP from power, winning 135 seats in the 224-member Assembly. BJP got 66 seats and the Janata Dal (Secular) headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda managed only 19.