'Lame excuses on freebies': Bommai hits back at CM

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A day after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah accused the central government of trying to scuttle his administration's free rice scheme for the poor, senior BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday hit back alleging that he was making "lame excuses" and indulging in "conspiracy politics" by putting the blame on the Centre.

The Congress government in the state is indulging in tactics realising that it will default on the guarantees, the former chief minister said, suggesting that the Siddaramaiah regime put the money into the bank account of the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer, until it makes necessary arrangements for rice.

"The state government on one hand is cheating the people of the state with regard to providing 10 kg of free rice to the poor, and on the other hand to save themselves from the bad name of having failed to fulfill the promise, is playing politics on the issue of supply of rice," Bommai said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said the Centre as per the Food Security Act is giving 5 kg of free rice to the poor every month and from December they are also bearing handling and transport charges, which was earlier borne by the States. "Out of the 10 kg that has been announced by the Congress government in the state, five kg are provided by the Centre; the state government has to tell the truth by saying that they will give additional five kg," he added.

Siddaramaiah on Wednesday accused the BJP-led government at 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 provides additional 5 kg of rice for BPL families. He had said that the central government has stalled the sale of wheat and rice to state governments under the Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) (OMSSD), which prohibits the Food Corporation of India (FCI) from selling any additional rice to Karnataka for its Anna Bhagya scheme.

Noting that even when the BJP government led by him tried to procure rice, Bommai said the FCI even then had said that there was no provision and he and his officials had to speak to central ministers and put pressure. He had then clearly stated in the file and had instructed the officials that the rice will be available only till March, and after April additional rice will have to be procured through tender, he added.

"Not sure what actions officials take too. I want to ask this government the CM, ministers and officials held several rounds of discussions with the ministers you should have known what will be the shortage to provide 10 kg and considering my caution note they should have taken alternative measures through short term tender", he said. If the government had a commitment, they should have taken alternative measures, Bommai said, alleging that it looks like making lame excuses was the only intention.