Cong slams Centre for not providing rice for 'Anna Bhagya' scheme in K'taka

New Delhi, June 15 (IANS) A day after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the Centre is "doing politics" over the free rice distribution scheme and "deliberately not providing" the commodity to the state, the Congress launched a tirade against the BJP-led Central government.

In a tweet on Thursday, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh, targeting the BJP, said: "Is this what BJP president J.P. Nadda meant when he proclaimed Karnataka would not get Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'ashirwaad' (blessings) if it does not vote for the BJP?"

Ramesh referred to Nadda's remarks made during the election campaigning in Karnataka.

Ramesh, also a Rajya Sabha MP, said: "By forcing the FCI (Food Corporation of India) to discontinue the sale of wheat and rice to states through its Open Market Sale Scheme, the Modi government is hurting the most marginalised sections of society. How petty must the PM be to take out his frustrations from his Karnataka loss on the people.

"But as CM Siddaramaiah says, every effort will be made to ensure the Anna Bhagya guarantee is implemented and 10 kg free food grains are provided to poor families," Ramesh added.

Congress' Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala also took a swipe at the BJP at the Centre, saying: "The anti-poor BJP and inimical stance of PM Modi stands exposed as the Modi government denies sale of rice by puppet FCI to the Congress government in Karnataka."

He said that the Congress guarantee of 'Anna Bhagya' is to supply free rice of 10 kg per person to every BPL family in Karnataka.

"The beneficiaries would be 1.28 crore families or nearly 4.42 crore people. The Congress government is ready to pay the FCI Rs 11,000 crore for the supply of rice. However, the Modi government has directed the FCI to not sell rice to the Congress government in Karnataka," Surjewala said.

The Congress leader said that FCI has stocks of rice that it wants to sell in the 'open market' to big traders but not to the Karnataka government.

"Why is BJP's 'B Team', the JD-S silent on this anti-poor and anti-Karnataka policy decision of the Modi government? Kannadigas demand answers," he said, adding that let it be remembered that despite road blocks put by BJP, Congress will implement "Anna Bhagya" but Kannadigas will not pardon the state BJP leadership or the Modi government for its enmity towards the SCs, STs, OBCs and the poor.

The Congress has made five guarantees to the people of the state in run up to the assembly election and Anna Bhagya scheme is one of them.

The party won 135 seats in the 224 member assembly while the BJP was reduced to 66 and the JD-S which was hoping to play the role of kingmaker in Karnataka could only manage to win 19 seats.