"Congress party jealous of PM Modi": Pralhad Joshi on Siddaramaiah's allegations
Sep 07, 2023
Hubli (Karnataka) [India], September 7 : The BJP on Thursday took on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's for alleging that the BJP at the centre had denied rice to the people of Karnatka. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said the Congress party was jealous of the chair of PM Modi.
"Siddaramaiah and Congress party have tried to call PM Modi 'Neech'...Since PM Modi comes from a poor background, the Congress party is jealous of the chair of PM Modi. They think this belongs to the Gandhi family... The whole country is facing a Anna Bhagya scheme situation. We have fewer stocks of rice. That's why we have banned the export of rice. The price of rice is increasing...Many BJP-governed states are also demanding rice...But we do not have it right now...The 'Neech' word used by the Congress is an example of their 'Ghamand'"Pralhad Joshi told ANI
Minister Pralhad Joshi asked CM Siddaramaiah that when he announced the Anna Bhagya scheme as one of the election promises then did he mention that the scheme would be applicable only if the centre provided extra rice.
Pralhad Joshi further said, "Due to the drought situation prevailing in the country, extra rice was being denied to every state, export was also banned and the allegation is baseless."
Earlier calling the BJP despicable, Siddaramaiah said the ruling party denied rice to the people of Karnataka. He said that when he became the chief minister of the state, he had written to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to supply rice for the Anna Bhagya scheme. The FCI had assured that it would provide rice, but the centre denied it, he said.
"We trusted them, but the centre denied us rice. Is the BJP pro-poor? They are not. We did not ask for rice for free. We were ready to pay for it. We were ready to pay 36 rupees (per kg) for the rice. When we asked for rice, they agreed and then backtracked. All of you must decide how despicable they are. They are anti-poor. They are inhumane," he said.
"Before the election, when I was the CM in my previous government, I was giving you more than 5 kg of rice, but the BJP had reduced free rice to just 5 kg. We wrote to the Food Corporation of India to purchase rice from them. They replied to us, saying they had plenty of rice to sell. They assured us that they were ready to provide the rice. But the BJP denied it," he added.
