Within minutes of taking over the reigns of Tamil Nadu on Saturday, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi fulfilled three of his electoral promises. The first file which he cleared was that of supplying rice at Rs 2 per kg to family card holders in the state. The scheme will come into effect from June 3, his 84th birthday.

Announcing this amidst thunderous applause from party cadre gathered to witness the swearing-in ceremony, Karunanidhi said the measure would cost the exchequer Rs 550 crore. Karunanidhi signed these files at Nehru Indoor Stadium where the swearing-in was held in the presence of Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee, PMK founder S Ramadoss and senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily.

The second promise was writing off Rs 6,866 crore worth of farmers’ loans availed till March 31 from the cooperative societies. The CM said expenditure towards this measure would be borne by the government.

The third file pertained to provision of two eggs a week to children covered by the noon-meal scheme. He said this would come into force from July 15, the birthday of former Chief Minister K Kamaraj. In this connection, Karunanidhi reminded that he had already announced in the DMK manifesto that Kamaraj’s birthday would be celebrated as Education Day.

Earlier in the day, Karunanidhi was sworn in as the Chief Minister by Governor S S Barnala. Along with Karunanidhi, 30 Cabinet ministers also took the oath. The CM was followed by K Anbazhagan and Arcot N Veerasamy.

There were shouts of jubilation as Karunanidhi’s son M K Stalin’s name was read out by Chief Secretary N Narayanan.