Raman Singh begins innings as CM

Ruling BJP in its election manifesto had promised to take 'initiative' to increase MSP of paddy to Rs 2,000

Raman Singh on Thursday started his fresh inning as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh; putting ball on Centre’s court over minimum support price (MSP) for the paddy.

“In my first letter (after assuming office today), I had written to the Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) requesting to fix MSP of paddy at Rs 2000 per quintal,” Singh said Thursday evening while talking to reporters. Early in the day, he took oath as chief minister of Chhattisgarh for the third term.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its election manifesto had promised to take “initiative” to increase the MSP of paddy to Rs 2000. “As part of the committed, the state government had written to the Union Government (that fix the MSP),” Singh said, adding that the government had started the process to give Rs 300 bonus to the farmers for a quintal of paddy they had sold.

The Chief Minister formally handed over the BJP election manifesto to the Chief Secretary, Sunil Kumar for its implementation. Singh said the process to execute the points mentioned in the manifesto started from today itself. “We would be monitoring the manifesto implementation in every six months and would plug the loopholes if any that comes to the notice during the review process,” he added.

The Raman Singh government on move from the first day had sent overt signal that the BJP had started the exercise for the Lok Sabha elections. “The hat-trick for the BJP government was inevitable for the Mission 2014,” Singh said. The BJP would bag all the 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh, he added.

As the BJP had trailed in the tribal pockets, the BJP government had started the process to away the tribals. Singh announced that the state government would purchase Tamarind, Mahau seed, Chiraunji, Lac to provide better price to the beneficiaries. In all, 1.4 million tribal families would be benefitted with the announcement.The government would also start an insurance scheme for the farm labourers from December 25 to mark the birthday of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. This would benefit 1.7 million labourers.   

Talking about the election results, he said the heavy polling in Chhattisgarh was indication of pro incumbency. “It is rare case when people come out in large number to vote for government,” he said.