Will raise rice supply issue with HM Amit Shah, says CM Siddaramaiah

PTI, Jun 21, 2023, 7:08 PM IST

New Delhi: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said he will flag the issue regarding the supply of rice to the state for its ‘Anna Bhagya’ scheme, which provides additional 5 kilograms of rice for each member of BPL families, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Speaking to reporters after meeting President Droupadi Murmu, he indicated that there may be slight delay in implementing the scheme, as the Centre played ”dirty politics” in supplying rice to the state.

”After becoming the Chief Minister I had not met the Rashtrapati, I met her, it was only a courtesy call. I’m also meeting the Union Home Minister. He has given me time at 9 pm, it is also a courtesy call, there won’t be any major discussion, may raise certain issues depending on the situation,” Siddaramaiah told reporters in New Delhi.

Responding to a question, he said, he will raise the rice supply issue with Amit Shah.

Charging that Food Corporation of India (FCI) expressed inability to supply rice to Karnataka allegedly on the instance of the central government, after initially agreeing, the CM in response to a question said, the government of India played a ”dirty politics”, ”hate politics”.

Noting that the state government is trying to procure rice and has reached out to various states like Telangana, West Bengal, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, he, however, said they will not be able to supply the state’s requirement of 2,28,000 metric tonne, also transportation cost will also be high.

”From Andhra it will cost Rs 42 per kg of rice, Telangana said only paddy is available not rice, Chhattisgarh CM told me they are in a position to supply 1 lakh metric tonne of rice only for one month, Punjab CM said he will discuss with officials and get back,” he said.

Such a large quantity of rice is not available in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said, ”we will have to go for a tender in the open market, it will take a minimum of two months”.

”So we have called for quotations from central government agencies like NCCF, NAFED, Kendriya Bhandar, we will get to know tomorrow, once we get to know we will decide. There may be slight delay in implementing the scheme as the central government has played politics,” he said.

Siddaramaiah and his ministers have been accusing the BJP-led government at the Centre of conspiring to ”fail” the Congress administration’s poll guarantee by ensuring that the state doesn’t get the required amount of rice for rolling out the ‘Anna Bhagya’ scheme, from July 1, as promised.

They have alleged that the Centre discontinued the sale of wheat and rice under OMSS(D) for state governments, a day after the FCI — which has large quantity of stocks — had agreed to provide 2,28,425.750 metric tonne of rice to Karnataka, at a rate of Rs 34 per kg on June 12.

The BJP has hit back accusing Congress and Siddaramaiah of blatantly lying to hide their own incompetence and are desperately trying to blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government at the Centre.