Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday revealed that the supply of Nandini ghee from the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) was stopped during BJP's regime, not now.
His comments come close on the heels of the BJP dubbing the stopping of Nandini ghee's supply to TTD as the "anti-Hindu" policy of the Congress government in the state.
Taking to the social media, Siddaramaiah maintained that the stopping of supply of Nandini ghee to Tirupati (Hindu pilgrimage center in Andhra Pradesh) is not a matter which has taken place today or yesterday. The supply of ghee has been stopped during the tenure of the previous BJP government.
BJP State President Nalin Kumar Kateel had said: "The Congress government always turns a blind eye towards faiths of Hindus. The tradition of 50 years has been broken and it showed the negligent attitude of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah towards Hindus."
Responding to the charge, Siddaramaiah stated, "Mr Kateel, now you tell us whether the previous BJP government was against the faith of Hindus, or whether then Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai alone was anti-Hindu?
"The lives of people who are in dairy farming are also important for us. In the interest of the farmers of the land, if Tirupati temple management is ready to provide the price quoted by us, there is no problem in supplying ghee," he stated.
Appealing to people that the matter should not be politicised, KMF President and Congress MLA Bheema Naik alleged the BJP is not able to tolerate the success of the Congress government by implementing the free schemes.
"The BJP is upset with the Congress launching pro-people, revolutionary programmes in the state," Naik said.
"The KMF had supplied Nandini ghee from 2005 to 2020 to Tirupati. TTD invites tender for supply of 1,700 to 2,000 metric tonnes of ghee for every six months. "We will supply 45 per cent of the demand. Nandini ghee has credibility and it is equivalent to the one prepared at home. From 2020 onwards, we are L3 suppliers. We were required to supply after L1 and L2 bidders. In 2021-22 they had written a letter for supply. KMF had supplied 345 metric tonnes of Nandini ghee, Naik said.
"Earlier, 94 metric tonnes was produced and now 84 metric tonnes of ghee is produced. If a suitable price is given for the ghee, it will surely be supplied. The Nandini ghee has great demand. The BJP leaders are creating an issue as they don't have any work. The farmer is in trouble, raw material cost has gone up. The government had hiked the price of the milk by Rs 3 and ensured that it reached them," Naik stated.
He also stated that Nandini milk has not lost market in Kerala as alleged by former BJP MLA C.T. Ravi. "There is demand and discussion is on," he added.
(With inputs from IANS)
