Govt hurting marginalised sections: Cong on Centre discontinuing sale of rice, wheat under OMSS

The Congress on Thursday hit out at the Centre over discontinuing the sale of rice and wheat from the central pool under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) to state governments, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking out his "frustration" from the Karnataka polls loss on the people.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that by this move the government is hurting the most marginalised sections of society.

The Congress' attack came after the Centre discontinued the sale of rice and wheat from the central pool under the OMSS to state governments, a move that will hit some states, including Karnataka, offering free grains to the poor.

The decision has already been conveyed to the Karnataka government, which had sought 13,819 tonne of rice for its own scheme under the OMSS without e-auction for July at the rate of Rs 3,400 per quintal.

In a tweet, Ramesh said, "Is this what BJP President Nadda ji meant when he proclaimed Karnataka would not get Modi ji's 'ashirwaad' if it didn't vote for BJP." "By forcing FCI 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," he said.

"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 Anna Bhagya guarantee is implemented and 10kg free food grains are provided to poor families," Ramesh said.

According to a recent order issued by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), "The sale of wheat and rice under the OMSS (domestic) for state governments is discontinued".

However, the sale of rice under the OMSS will be continued for northeastern states, hilly states and states facing law and order situations, and natural calamities at an existing rate of Rs 3,400 per quintal, it said.

FCI may liquidate rice under the OMSS to private parties from the central pool stock as per the requirement in order to moderate the market prices, it added.

The Karnataka CM took to Twitter to step up the attack on the Centre, claiming that this is BJP's "desperate attempt to create problems for the implementation of Anna Bhagya 2.0".

"Why is @narendramodi and @BJP4Karnataka against us giving 10 Kgs of free rice to deserving people? Why do they want to snatch the food away from poor people?" he asked.

"BJP is always anti-Karnataka and we have been saying this since 2014. Narendra Modi's step-motherly treatment towards Karnataka has caused Kannadigas a great trouble since 2014," he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah accused the Centre of conspiring to "fail" the Congress administration's poll guarantee, by ensuring that the state doesn't get the required amount of rice to implement its 'Anna Bhagya' scheme, which would provide additional rice for poor.

Alleging that the Central government was playing politics on the issue, he called it "anti-poor" for trying to "scuttle" the scheme which would benefit the needy.

The chief minister also said his government was making all efforts to get rice from other sources and producing states, aimed at supplying it to the needy on time, as promised.

Meanwhile, Karnataka's deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar also spoke out on the issue. "Before the [Karnataka] election, J.P. Nadda had threatened voters of Karnataka that if BJP doesn't come to power, state won't get support from Union. Let BJP leaders respond to that," he said.

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 to every member of a BPL household and Antyodaya card holders every month, from July 1.

Five kg of rice is already being given to every member of a BPL household, it is now being enhanced by another five kg by the new government.

With PTI inputs