Karnataka Minister Umesh Katti backtracks after receiving flak for comment on BPL cards
Bengaluru, Feb 16: A day after his statement on Below Poverty Line ration card holders sparked a row, Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies Minister Umesh Katti on Tuesday did a U-turn, saying there were no definite parameters for BPL and APL card holders over availing benefits.
The minister emphasised that the BJP government in Karnataka headed by B S Yediyurappa was pro-poor and was committed to distributing more BPL cards.
It will continue to give free foodgrains such as Ragi, corn and rice, he added.
Having come under attack from the Congress and the JD(S), Katti told reporters here there were no definite parameters for BPL and APL (Above Poverty Line) and there was no need for anyone to worry as the government has not issued any statement in this regard.
Retracting from his previous statement, the minister said, "I had only shared the information from Delhi with media. Neither those parameters (motorcycle, TV, fridge and land) were mine, nor the Chief Minister has given any such orders. I am not an irresponsible minister."
However, he did not elaborate.
Stating that his statement did not pertain to the BPL card holders, he said further confusion on the matter was uncalled for.
He said there were no definite parameters to identify the BPL families, Katti said "I have not issued any order without consulting the Chief Minister. BPLs are BPLs and APLs are APLs."
Katti had on Monday said in Belagavi that those owning components such as motorcycle, TV, fridge and five acres of land are not entitled to hold a BPL card and they have to surrender them to the government by March 31, or else the government will take action.
The opposition Congress and the JD(S) had come down heavily on Katti and the BJP government calling it anti-poor and anti-people.
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AAP leaders once sought justice for Nirbhaya, today they are supporting an accused: Maliwal
New Delhi (PTI): AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, who has been accused by her party of being part of a conspiracy to frame Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a false case, on Sunday said her party colleagues once sought justice for Nirbhaya but today they are supporting a person accused of assaulting her.
She said if AAP leader and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who is in jail in connection with the Delhi excise police case, had been here "maybe things wouldn't have been so bad for me!"
Maliwal has alleged that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar assaulted her on May 13 when she went to the CM's residence to meet him. The Aam Aadmi Party has trashed her allegations and claimed Maliwal was acting at the behest of the BJP to frame Kejriwal in a fake case.
Maliwal, who has been associated with the AAP since its inception more than 10 years ago, said on Sunday there was a time when "we all used to come out on the streets to get justice for Nirbhaya".
"Today, 12 years later, we have come out on the streets to save the accused (Bibhav Kumar) who made the CCTV footage disappear and formatted the phone? I wish they had used this much force for Manish Sisodia ji. Had he been here, maybe things wouldn't have been so bad for me!" she wrote.
Police have arrested Kumar in connection with the case.
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