George was made HM to restore confidence of minorities:Siddu

On his first visit to the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office here after taking over as Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah was vociferous in highlighting his goal of meeting people's expectations and providing a clean administration.

“The Congress in its manifesto has made seven promises. We have implemented the first six, the seventh one too will be implemented shortly," Siddaramaiah said on Friday after he and the KPCC president G Parameshwara were felicitated by the KPCC law and human rights cell for their role in bringing Congress back to power in the state.

Siddaramaiah said he will ensure that Re one-a-kg rice scheme will be implemented from July 1.

The chief minister said there was a shortfall of 1.61 lakh metric tonne of rice as it was to be sourced from the Centre and, hence the implementation was postponed.

He said the cheap rice scheme would cost the state exchequer Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 crore.

"We are not bothered about the money. Our agenda is to ensure that no poor man goes to sleep without two meals a day," he said.

‘Communal BJP’

Accusing the BJP of having spread communal tension during it’s five-year tenure, Siddaramaiah said his senior colleague K J George was given the Home portfolio mainly to restore confidence among the minorities.

"The five-year regime of the BJP resulted in the minorities across the State living in fear. In order to restore their confidence, I insisted that a minority leader be made the Home minister," said Siddaramaiah.

Earlier, speaking to the party workers, Parameshwara said the Congress was sure on delivering the promises it had made in the manifesto.