Amul’s Bengaluru entry: Detractors say utterly butterly unacceptable

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru:

Dairy brand Amul announcing its plans to make a foray into the Bengaluru market on Wednesday has drawn the ire of Opposition leaders, pro-Kannada organisations and others who see it as a threat to the local co-operative ‘Nandini’ which comes under Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF).

“A new wave of freshness with milk and curd is coming to Bengaluru. More information coming soon,” the Amul Twitter handle posted, prompting many Kannadigas to respond with the hashtags #GoBackAmul and #SaveNandini. Many Karnataka-based observers see this as a violation of an unspoken rule that a co-operative from one state should not compete with another.

Amul will be floating its packaged milk, yoghurt and other products in the capital. Interestingly, in October, Union Minister for Home and Co-operation Amit Shah had said five cooperatives would be merged to form a multi-state cooperative society, which many in Karnataka took to mean Nandini would be involved.