Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday slammed the Centre for denying rice to the State for launching its Anna Bhagya scheme.
Speaking to reporters at Mysuru airport, Mr. Shivakumar, who was here on a private visit, condemned the NDA government for deliberately denying allotment of rice to the State. “We are not asking the Centre for free rice. The 10 kg free rice distribution to each member of BPL and Antyodaya card-holder families is being launched on July 1. In this connection, we sought the rice but the Centre is politicising the issue by refusing to allot rice from its stock to the State,” he charged.
He said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was in touch with his counterparts in Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and other States where the rice Karnataka was in need could be mobilised.
Mr. Shivakumar alleged that the Centre had stopped rice allotment even to other States.
To a query, he said, “We cannot buy rice from the open market. The process needs to be done in a transparent manner. The State has to buy from government agencies. But the Congress government’s plan of giving rice to the poor was being scuttled by the Centre.”
