The Congress on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Centre's discontinuing the sale of foodgrains from its pool to state governments, calling it a revenge on Karnataka.
The party said that the discontinuation was a "political decision" taken by Modi as a revenge on the people of Karnataka for rejecting the BJP in the assembly polls.
On June 13, the Centre discontinued the sale of rice and wheat from the buffer stock to state governments under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) officially due to inflationary pressure and concerns over monsoon.
The Congress has alleged that the move was aimed at scuttling the Karnataka government's Anna Bhagya scheme.
The Anna Bhagya scheme, one of the five pre-poll guarantees of the Congress, promises 10 kg rice for every BPL (below poverty line) family in the state.
In a tweet, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said it was clear after Wednesday's meeting of Piyush Goyal with state food and civil supplies ministers that the Union government was prioritising supply of rice for ethanol production over meeting food security needs of the poor.
"States like Karnataka are willling to pay the Food Corporation of India (FCI) Rs 34 per kg for meeting their food security needs, but that door has been closed by a brazenly vindictive Modi Government. FCI however will continue to sell rice at Rs 20 per kg to ethanol producers," Ramesh said.
He alleged that the decision was taken by the Prime Minister to create roadblocks for states like Karnataka and also stands to hit the marginalised of the society.
"It is his revenge on the people of Karnataka for rejecting him and his party so very comprehensively two months ago. But the Prime Minister’s vendetta politics will boomerang on him. The Karnataka Government will fulfill its food security guarantee of Anna Bhagya 2.0 come what may!" Ramesh asserted.
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan have asked the Centre to provide food grains for their state welfare schemes from the buffer stock under the OMSS, Karnataka Food Minister K H Muniappa had said on Wednesday.
The demand was made by the four Opposition-ruled states at the national conference of state food ministers held in the national capital to discuss food and nutritional security and procurement of kharif crops.
As part of implementing Congress' five poll guarantees, the Siddaramaiah government earlier this month decided to roll out 'Anna Bhagya' scheme, providing a total 10 kg of food grains/rice – up from 5kg earlier – to every member of a BPL household and Antyodaya card holders every month, from July 1.