As the Food Corporation of India (FCI) rejected the Opposition-ruled States’ demand to reconsider the decision to restrict purchase through the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS), the Congress said in New Delhi on June 25 that it is Karnataka’s durbhagya (misfortune) that the Narendra Modi government is sabotaging the Anna Bhagya 2.0 scheme. The FCI had said the States’ schemes cater to the same set of beneficiaries covered under the Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Ann Yojna.
Congress general secretary and MP Jairam Ramesh said from January 1, 2023 till May 24, 2023, the BJP-led government in Karnataka alone lifted more than 95% of the rice procured by all State governments under the OMSS at a rate of ₹3,400 per quintal, presumably with Modiji’s “aashirwaad” (blessings). “Once, the Congress government was formed in Karnataka, as threatened by BJP president J.P. Nadda, this “ashirwaad” has been withdrawn at breakneck speed,” he said and added that the decision to discontinue the OMSS for States was targeted at sabotaging the implementation of the Anna Bhagya 2.0 scheme guaranteed by the Congress to the people of Karnataka.
Mr. Ramesh said in a statement that on June 14, the FCI’s General Manager for Karnataka, withdrew the earlier order of sale of rice on June 12. “Not only that, the Chairman and Managing Director of FCI in a press conference on June 23 said that conditions will be placed such that private traders cannot sell to another State. Isn’t this a clear case of sabotage?,” Mr. Ramesh asked.
