Bengaluru, Jul 2: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said the Karnataka Milk Federation -- known for its 'Nandini' brand of dairy products -- has achieved a milestone of procuring one crore litres of milk a day from farmers.

“The milk production in Karnataka was 90 lakh litres a day in May last year. Now, the KMF is getting one crore litres of milk a day. This is a milestone in the history of KMF,” Siddaramaiah said.

He recalled that when he was the Animal Husbandry Minister many years ago, he had handed over management of dairies to milk unions.

The Chief Minister said the State now has 15 milk unions, 15 mother dairies and 16,000 societies of milk growers.

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He said the quantity of milk in half and one litre milk packets of 'Nandini" has been increased by 50 ML due to the rising milk procurement, and proportionately prices were increased by Rs two recently.

“Due to the increase in milk production, we have increased the milk quantity in the packets. This has been done because we cannot say to the milk growers, who are basically farmers, that we cannot procure extra milk they are producing,” Siddaramaiah explained.

He said the opposition BJP did not understand this and started making a hue and cry that the Karnataka government increased the milk price.

“The BJP leaders are spreading lies on this issue because I feel that they have no concern for farmers. The government is giving Rs 5 crore a day to the milk producers as honorarium, which is Rs 1,800 crore annually,” the Chief Minister added.

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New Delhi, Jul 4: There does not appear to be much scope for an alliance between the Congress and the AAP for the assembly polls in Haryana and Delhi but the INDIA bloc will fight elections together in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday.

In an interview with PTI, Ramesh said there is no one formula the INDIA bloc will follow for state elections. The grouping will fight together in states where Congress leaders and other alliance partners agree to such an understanding, he said.

Asked whether the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will fight the assembly polls together going forward, Ramesh said the alliance will do so in Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

"There is no INDIA 'janbandhan' in Punjab. In Haryana, we had given one seat to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Lok Sabha polls but I don't think that INDIA janbandhan will be there for assembly polls. In Delhi, the AAP itself has said that INDIA janbandhan will not be there for assembly polls," Ramesh said.

The Congress and AAP had fought the Lok Sabha polls together in Delhi, while they contested separately in Punjab.

Ramesh said, "In the context of West Bengal also, I had said that the INDIA bloc is for Lok Sabha polls but in states where the circumstances are such that our leaders of the state and leaders of our alliance partners want, the alliance will remain. In Maharashtra, the alliance will be there with Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SCP). In Jharkhand, we have an alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morch."

Where state Congress leaders and the respective alliance parties agree, there will be an alliance, he said, adding there is no one formula on which the alliance will be done for assembly polls.

Asked specifically as to whether there would be an alliance in Haryana and Delhi, Ramesh said, "There does not appear to be much scope (for alliance) in Delhi and Haryana."

Last month, Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi state convener Gopal Rai had said his party's alliance with the Congress was only for the Lok Sabha elections and hinted that the ruling party in the city will go solo in next year's Assembly polls here.

Ramesh asserted INDIA bloc partners are united in Parliament and augmented by the BJD in Rajya Sabha.

"The YSRCP has its compulsions. Their soul is with INDIA but their body is with Mr. Narendra Modi. We are going to be aggressive, we are going to be proactive, we want a debate, we want a discussion but we will not be allowed to be bulldozed like the way we have been over the last 10 years," Ramesh said.

Jharkhand, Haryana and Maharashtra are slated to go for polls later this year, while assembly elections in Delhi will be held early next year.