Vendetta politics: Cong slams PM Modi over 2023 decision on sale of rice to state govts

PTI, Jul 5, 2024, 6:23 PM IST

The Congress on Friday alleged “vendetta politics” on part of the Modi government for refusing to sell adequate rice to implement the ‘Anna Bhagya Guarantee’ in Karnataka last year and asked whether he would apologise to the people for “obstructing” their elected state government from implementing its schemes.

Congress general secretary, in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh said evidence has emerged showing that Narendra Modi’s “vendetta-driven” decision not only deprived the people of Karnataka of an additional 5 kg of rice through the ‘Anna Bhagya Guarantee’, but also increased India’s food subsidy bill by tens of thousands of crores.

He alleged that the PM’s “vendetta politics”, aimed at obstructing the Congress and non-BJP state governments from implementing their programmes, has corroded India’s federal system and cost the Indian taxpayer. “On June 13, 2023, the Modi government stopped selling rice to state governments under the Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic), reversing the Food Corporation of India’s orders to Karnataka issued the day before,” Ramesh said in a statement.

“This irrational policy was undertaken with the sole intention of disrupting the Karnataka government’s Anna Bhagya Scheme, which doubles the quota of rice available to each individual entitled to grain under the National Food Security Act (2013),” he said. With the Modi government refusing to sell the state adequate rice to implement the scheme, it was only the Karnataka government’s determination and pro-activeness that allowed it to continue the scheme, through a cash transfer of Rs 170 per month for each eligible beneficiary to defray expenses for purchasing 5 kg of rice, Ramesh said.

“The claims made by the Modi government last year — of depleted rice stocks owing to poor monsoon and high prices — to justify its discontinuation of the sale of rice through OMSS(D) scheme were blatantly false,” he claimed. In reality, as revealed by a media report, the government is storing 50 million tonnes of rice, three times the required buffer of 13.54 million tonnes, he claimed. “It costs the FCI Rs 3,975 to buy, transport and stock one quintal (100 kg) of rice. With the Budget looming, the government has finally woken up to the huge cost imposed by the non-biological Prime Minister’s vendetta politics – and has finally decided to resume rice sales to states,” Ramesh said. “Will the non-biological prime minister, who withdrew his ‘Aashirwaad’ to Karnataka after the state voted in a Congress government in May 2023, apologise to the 6.5 crore people of Karnataka for disrespecting their mandate and obstructing their democratically elected state government from implementing its schemes?” Ramesh said. Will the prime minister apologise to the tax-payers of India, for inflating the food bill subsidy by an estimated Rs 16000- Rs 18000 crore, by stopping the sale of excess rice stock to Karnataka and other states, he asked. Will the 17 BJP MPs and the 2 JD(S) MPs elected from Karnataka, and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, also from Karnataka, seek fair compensation from the government of India for the injustice done to the poorest of poor in Karnataka, Ramesh asked.