The Karnataka cabinet met on Saturday, hours after the Congress took charge of the government, and gave in-principle approval to the five “guarantees” the party had promised the state’s people before the May 10 polls.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah told a news conference that all five guarantees would be implemented next week.
“We have given in-principle approval to these guarantees. Once we discuss the financial implications, they will be implemented at next week’s cabinet meeting,” Siddaramaiah said, speaking after the cabinet meeting that lasted more than an hour.
The five guarantees are: 200 free units of power for all households under the Gruha Jyothi scheme; Rs 2,000 a month for each woman head of the family under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme; 10kg free rice per month for each individual in a BPL family under the Anna Bhagya scheme; free travel for women ingovernment buses across Karnataka under the Uchita Prayana scheme; and a monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 for graduates and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders — for up to two years or until they find a job, whichever is earlier — under the Yuva Nidhi programme.
Siddaramaiah accused the BJP of having tried to mislead the people by saying these guarantees could not be implemented.
“Even the Prime Minister of this country said this in his Mann Ki Baat (monthly radio broadcast),” he said.
“(Then BJP chief minister Basavaraj) Bommai and other leaders said we were making false promises and that these ideas were not practical. But Rs 50,000 crore (a year) is all we need to implement these guarantees.”
Siddaramaiah dismissed the BJP’s allegation that implementing the guarantees would have serious financial implications for the state.
“This (amount) is much less than the interest of Rs 56,000 crore this state has been paying. When we are paying so much as interest on loan, can’t we spend Rs 50,000 crore for the poor?” he said.
“We will control wasteful expenditure and reduce loans, which will help reduce the interest payout on principal amounts. It is not impossible to raise Rs 50,000 crore each year.”
The cabinet also decided to revamp the Indira Canteen scheme, launched in 2017 by a Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah.
Rahul Gandhi had inaugurated the project, which offered breakfast for Rs 5 and lunch and dinner for Rs 10 each. The BJP government later cut the funding for the project.
Siddaramaiah said his previous government had fulfilled 158 of the 165 promises made in the poll manifesto of 2013. “We implemented several more projects, such as Indira Canteen, that were not part of the manifesto,” he said.
He accused the previous BJP government of hurting Karnataka’s interests by failing to press the Union government for the Rs 5,495 crore interim GST relief due to the state.
“The 15th Finance Commission’s interim report had sanctioned Rs 5,495 crore to be paid to Karnataka. But the state (BJP) government did not take it. Is there any government that has done as much harm to a state?” he said.
Siddaramaiah said this had happened despite Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman being a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, then chief minister Bommai being part of the GST Council, and the BJP boasting 25 Lok Sabha members from the state.
He castigated the BJP for persistently hailing the Union government for its grants to the states.
“They lie, saying the Centre is giving everything. It is a portion of what we are contributing that is being returned. Where does the Centre get its revenue? It comes from the states,” Siddaramaiah said.
He said his government would request the governor to convene a three-day Assembly session from Monday to elect a Speaker and let the newly elected lawmakers take the oath of office. Senior Congress leader R.V. Deshpande will be the pro-tem Speaker.
