Congress, JD-S to form sub-panel to draft Karnataka common minimum programme

Karnataka's JD-S-Congress government would soon set up a sub-committee to draft a common minimum programme (CMP) from the poll manifestos of the alliance parties, said Coordination Committee chairman Siddaramaiah on Thursday.

"The sub-committee, comprising three Congress leaders and two Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leaders will draft the CMP for implementation over the next five years," Siddaramaiah told reporters here after chairing the committee's first meeting here.

The coordination committee comprises of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Kunwar Danish Ali of the JD-S, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, Congress's state unit in-charge K.C. Venugopal and Siddaramaiah of the Congress.

Admitting that it would be difficult for the coalition government to implement all the promises made in the manifestoes of the both the parties for the assembly elections, Siddaramaiah said the sub-committee would draft the CMP by selecting the promises listed in both the manifestoes.

"As the manifestoes of both the parties were made separately and released before the election, the sub-committee would list the promises that are common and feasible for implementation by the coalition government over the next five years," said the former Chief Minister.

Ali, however, hastened to clarify that the pro-poor and social welfare schemes of the previous government would continue, especially the free rice/wheat, free milk to students in state-run schools and health insurance to farmers and poor families.

"The CMP will be implemented through budgetary allocations and its details will be spelt out in the state budget Kumaraswamy will present next month, as he also holds the Finance portfolio," he told reporters.

The coordination meeting also discussed the appointment of heads of state-run boards and corporations, transfer of officials, when to schedule the monsoon session of the state legislature and proposals to be included in the budget of the new government.

As agreed by the alliance partners, Congress legislators will head two-thirds of boards and corporations and the JD-S legislators will head the remaining one-third.

--IANS

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