Cong-JDS govt announced Koppal toy cluster project in 2018: Kharge reminds BSY

Team Udayavani, Aug 30, 2020, 5:31 PM IST

Bengaluru: Congress leader and former minister Priyank Kharge on Sunday hit out at chief minister BS Yediyurappa for taking credit for an upcoming toy manufacturing cluster in the northern district of Koppal.

Kharge pointed out that the coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy had announced the said project in September 2018 as part of his ‘Compete with China’ scheme.

Terming PM Modi’s vocal for local call as ‘jumla’, Kharge said that Karnataka has close to 50 Geographical Indication Tag products and the state has pitched for local products long before PM started the jumla.

“Toy cluster project in Koppala was approved by the Congress/JDS coalition Govt. Much before the “vision” of #VocalForLocal.

Also Karnataka has close to 50 Geographical Indication Tag products, highest in India. We have been #VocalForLocal long before PM started this #Jumla,” tweeted Kharge.

– Toy cluster project in Koppala was approved by the Congress/JDS coalition Govt. Much before the “vision” of #VocalForLocal.

– Also Karnataka has close to 50 Geographical Indication Tag products, highest in India. We have been #VocalForLocal long before PM started this #Jumla https://t.co/g0xSYYCeZS

— Priyank Kharge / ಪ್ರಿಯಾಂಕ್ ಖರ್ಗೆ (@PriyankKharge) August 30, 2020

His remark came shortly after BSY in his tweet said that Koppal, which is set to become India’s first ‘toy manufacturing cluster’, has the potential to create 40,000 jobs in five years.

He also claimed that the project is likely to attract investments worth Rs 5,000 crore. He said the programme is in line with PM Narendra Modi’s Vocal for Local campaign, which aims to create an environment of self-reliance among Indians and the country’s businesses to manufacture locally and independently.

Apart from Koppal, the Congress-JDS coalition government had identified eight other districts for manufacturing of items that are largely imported from China at present, due to the price advantage.

The eight districts that were identified at that time includes Kalaburgi (for solar power goods), Chitradurga (for LED lights), Hassan (sanitary goods), Mysuru (ICB manufacturing unit), Ballari (textiles), Chikkaballapur (mobile phone components), Tumakuru (sports and fitness goods) and Bidar (agricultural implements).