Chief minister signs order minutes after being sworn in, Barnala speaks in Tamil while administering oath to the Cabinet.
CHENNAI: Politics of populism in Tamil Nadu got the new government's first stamp on Saturday when DMK president M Karunanidhi signed three orders including the one on Rs2 per kg rice scheme minutes after he was sworn in the chief minister.
While the new rice scheme that comes into effect from June 3 is expected to increase the subsidy quotient by Rs550 crore, the waiver of farmers' loans will cost the exchequer Rs6,866 crore.
A second egg will be given to school children covered under the noon-meal scheme from July 15, the birthday of the late Kamaraj, the new chief minister announced.
"I am signing the orders in front of you. The state government will bear the entire extra expenditure," Karunanidhi told a crowd of jubilant DMK activists and cautious bureaucrats at the Jawaharlal Nehru indoor stadium.
Earlier, Governor Surjit Singh Barnala administered the oath of office and oath of secrecy to Karunanidhi and his 30 ministers. In a marked deviation from 2001 - when all the ministers prostrated before then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa - the new cabinet members shook hands with the Karunanidhi.
Much to the delight of the crowd, Barnala used Tamil instead of English while administering oath to the cabinet members. MK Stalin, who took charge as the minister for local administration, however, bent to touch his father's knees.
The crowd went into raptures when Stalin started taking the oath. Union minister Dayanidhi Maran was always beside his grand uncle Karunanidhi who exchanged pleasantries with Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Jaipal Reddy.
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