Cong, BJP trade charges over free rice scheme in Karnataka
new delhi: The Congress on Thursday accused the Narendra Modi government of being “petty and partisan” and stopping the Food Corporation of India from selling rice to the Karnataka government for its free rice distribution scheme, drawing sharp reactions from the BJP. The BJP alleged that the Congress was “engaging in theatrics” as it realised fulfilling the promise made to the people of Karnataka in the run-up to the recent assembly polls was beyond its means.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Congress government in Karnataka was more than willing to buy rice at Rs 34 per kg from FCI to implement its Anna Bhagya 2.0 scheme. “But the Modi government brazenly stopped FCI from selling it even as it has allowed FCI to supply rice at Rs 20 per kg for ethanol production! Now, in keeping with the guarantee made to the people of Karnataka the state govt will transfer up to Rs 750 per month to households, until enough stock of rice is procured to implement 10kg free rice for all BPL families,” he said on Twitter.
“We have said it before and we will say it again, there’s never been a more petty and partisan government in Delhi than the Modi government. But that won’t stop us from fulfilling our promise to the people of Karnataka,” Ramesh said, sharing a report that after being denied grain by the Centre, the Karnataka government to compensate BPL families with cash.
Hitting back, BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya took to Twitter to say that the Congress should stop blaming the Centre for not being able to fulfil the promise of providing 10 kg free rice to the people of Karnataka. “They made the promise during election, they should find the means to fulfil it,” he said. The Centre is already providing free food grains to 80 crore Indians, including Kannadigas, under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, the BJP leader noted.
“After their poll calculation misfired, Congress is now promising up to’ 750 rupees per month instead of rice. Is it going to be per household? Is there an eligibility criteria? And where is the money? Also what happened to the promise of 2,000 rupees to every woman and unemployment allowance of (Rs) 3,000 for every Youth?” Malviya said.
