Punjab govt has offered to supply rice to K'taka for its Anna Bhagya scheme, says state AAP unit
Bengaluru, June 20: The AAP-ruled Punjab has come forward to supply rice required for Karnataka's free rice scheme, Anna Bhagya, the party's state unit has said.
The AAP's Karnataka unit said the Punjab government, led by Bhagwant Mann was willing to help Karnataka by providing rice required to implement the scheme, which offers 10 kg of food grain to each member of a family living below the poverty line.
In a letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday, AAP Karnataka convener Prithvi Reddy said, “The AAP government of Punjab is ready to provide the rice required for the implementation of Anna Bhagya scheme in Karnataka.” He stated that he had a detailed discussion on the issue with Punjab Chief Minister Mann.
''Mann reacted positively and has in-principle agreed to supply rice in the state from Punjab,” Reddy claimed.
The AAP strongly believes that irrespective of political differences, all parties must support initiatives that are meant to help people of our country, he said.
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Reddy also took a dig at the BJP government at the Centre for allegedly declining to provide extra rice to Karnataka.
“It is both surprising and sad to note that the BJP led central government has refused to provide extra rice to our state for fulfilment of the new Anna Bhagya scheme proposed by your government,” the AAP state chief said in his letter.
Slamming the Centre, Reddy said the alleged refusal to provide the extra rice not only exposes the 'anti-poor attitude' of the BJP government but also their ''step-motherly'' treatment to non-BJP ruled states”.
Later, addressing reporters he flayed the Congress for coming to power in Karnataka without any prior preparations.
He also charged the Siddaramaiah-led dispensation with completely 'copying' the programmes of the AAP and announcing many hasty guarantees for vote bank politics.
While five kg rice was already being given by the Centre, the state government wants to provide an additional five kg from its resources, according to a senior state government official.
The union government recently discontinued the sale of rice and wheat from the central pool under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) to state governments. According to an order issued by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), The sale of wheat and rice under the OMSS (domestic) for state governments is discontinued. However, the sale of rice under the OMSS will be continued for northeastern states, hilly states and states facing law and order situations, natural calamities at an existing rate of Rs 3,400 per quintal, it said. The move comes amid the slow progress of the monsoon and rising prices of rice and wheat. Rice prices have increased by up to 10 per cent in the last one year at the mandi level and by 8 per cent in the last one month, as per official data.
According to Siddaramaiah, the state needed 2.28 lakh metric tonnes of rice. On June 12, the FCI had agreed to provide the required quantity of rice but two days later it backtracked, he alleged.
Karnataka has approached the National Consumer Cooperative Federation, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation, and Central Warehousing Corporation to procure rice.
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Bengaluru police to challenge bail granted to actor Darshan in SC
Bengaluru (PTI): Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda on Tuesday said that an appeal will be filed in the Supreme Court soon challenging the interim bail granted to Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who is an accused in the Renukaswamy murder case.
The 47-year-old had walked out of Ballari jail on October 30 after being imprisoned for more than four months, hours after the Karnataka High Court gave him relief for six weeks on medical grounds, to undergo spine surgery.
"The process is on and at the earliest we will file an appeal in the Supreme Court," Dayananda told reporters in response to a question.
Darshan was arrested on June 11. His friend Pavithra Gowda and 15 others are co-accused in the case.
Pavithra is lodged in Bengaluru prison, and others in various jails of the state; some of them had recently got bail.
According to police, 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a fan of the actor, had sent obscene messages to Pavithra, which enraged Darshan, allegedly leading to his murder. His body was found near a storm water drain next to an apartment in Sumanahalli here on June nine.
Raghavendra, one of the accused who is part of Darshan's fan club in Chitradurga, had brought Renukaswamy to a shed in R R Nagar here, on the pretext that the actor wanted to meet him. It was in this shed that he was allegedly tortured and murdered.
According to the post-mortem report, Renukaswamy, a native of Chitradurga, died due to shock and hemorrhage as a result of multiple blunt injuries.
Police have said Pavithra, who is accused number one, was the "major cause" for Renukaswamy’s murder, claiming that it has been proved from the probe that she instigated other accused, conspired with them, and took part in the crime.
