Bengaluru: Chief Minister-designate Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar left for New Delhi on Friday to hold discussions with the party high command regarding the allocation of portfolios and ministers to be included in the new Karnataka cabinet. On Thursday, a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) formally elected Siddaramaiah as its leader, after which he staked his claim to the governor, who invited him to form the government.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar will take oath as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively along with some ministers at 12.30 pm at the Kanteerava Stadium here on Saturday. Before leaving for the national tour, Shivakumar said, “Siddaramaiah, Randeep Singh Surjewala (AICC general secretary) and I are going to Delhi, we will meet Mallikarjun Kharge (AICC president) to discuss and decide on the first phase of cabinet expansion.” ) will meet.” Capital.
Talking to reporters here, in response to a question, he said, ‘Our first priority is to fulfill the promises made to the public. Cabinet, public, all those things we will tell you later, we will do nothing except you (media). ), no speculation needed. We will work unitedly.” The first challenge facing Siddaramaiah is setting up a cabinet with the right combination that will strike a balance between representatives of all communities, regions, factions and the old and new generation of legislators.
With the sanctioned strength of the Karnataka cabinet being 34, there are a lot of aspirants for ministerial posts. Asserting that the voice of the people would be the voice of the Karnataka government, Shivakumar said, “All our national leaders are coming (for the swearing-in ceremony). On the first day in the first cabinet, we will implement all our ‘guarantees’, we will keep our promise.”
Several national leaders have been invited for the swearing-in ceremony and most of them are coming, he said, as he invited party workers and supporters from across the state to the venue, and asked them to be there much before the scheduled time. asked for. Make sure there is no traffic or any other difficulty.
Shivakumar also invited leaders of the BJP and JD(S) for the event, adding that as people’s representatives, they are also part of the government machinery. The nominated DCM also visited Kanteerava Stadium, the venue of the swearing-in ceremony and inspected the preparations there. Asked whether the guarantee would be with or without conditions, Shivakumar said, “I will not say anything now, once we decide, we will inform you. We will talk.”
“They are not the guarantee of Shivakumar or Siddaramaiah, they are the guarantee of the Congress party,” he said. The Congress has promised a ‘guarantee’-200 units of free electricity to all households (Griha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the female head of every household (Griha Lakshmi), 10 kg rice free to each member. BPL families (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 per month for graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders (both in the 18-25 age group) for two years (Yuvanidhi), and for women in public transport buses (Shakti) Free travel on the very first day of assuming power in the state.