Congress Leader Jairam Ramesh Criticizes Prime Minister Over Karnataka Rice Scheme

New Delhi [India], July 5: Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh has criticized the Prime Minister for obstructing the Karnataka government from implementing its schemes and for inflating the food bill subsidy. He also questioned whether Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators from Karnataka would seek fair compensation from the Centre.

Ramesh asked, “Will the non-biological Prime Minister, who withdrew his ‘Aashirwaad’ to Karnataka after the state voted in a Congress government in May 2023, apologize to the 6.5 crore people of Karnataka for disrespecting their mandate and obstructing their democratically elected State Government from implementing its schemes?”

He further questioned, “Will the non-biological Prime Minister apologize to the taxpayers 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?”

Ramesh also asked if the 17 BJP MPs and the 2 JD(S) MPs elected from Karnataka, along with the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, would seek fair compensation from the Government of India for the injustice done to the poorest of poor in Karnataka.

According to Ramesh, on June 13, 2023, the Narendra 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. He claimed this policy was intended to disrupt Karnataka’s Anna Bhagya Scheme, which doubles the rice quota for individuals entitled to grain under the National Food Security Act (2013).

Despite the Modi Government’s refusal to sell adequate rice to the state, Karnataka’s government continued the scheme through a cash transfer of Rs 170 per month for each eligible beneficiary to purchase 5kg of rice. Ramesh stated that this decision deprived Karnataka’s people of additional rice and increased India’s food subsidy bill by tens of thousands of crores.

Ramesh also refuted the Modi government’s claims of depleted rice stocks due to poor monsoon and high prices, citing a report that the government is storing 50 million tonnes of rice, three times the required buffer. He noted that the government has now decided to resume rice sales to states.