Taking exception to the BJP leaders’ statement on ‘Modi Rice’, Labour Minister Santosh Lad on Monday said that it should be termed as ‘Congress Rice’ as it was Congress which brought the law to distribute five kg of rice under the Public Distribution System (PDS).
Speaking to presspersons in Hubballi on Monday, Mr. Santosh Lad said: “It was the Congress-led Union government which promulgated the Food Security Act to distribute five kg of rice to the BPL families. Now they are naming it ‘Modi Rice’, which is not. It is not Modi Rice, it is the Union government’s rice.”
To a query, Mr. Lad reacted strongly saying that Congress did not need BJP’s permission to make election promises. Initially, they said they would supply rice and subsequently declined the request, he added.
On the allegation by BJP leaders that the Congress had cheated the public, Mr. Lad said that it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had deceived the public.
Reacting strongly to Union Minister Pralhad Joshi’s allegation that works had been stopped for the sake of commission, Mr. Lad said that the works had been suspended because tenders worth ₹60 crore were called for works worth ₹20 crore and they would thoroughly inquire into all such works that had inflated costs. He also said that all the scams of BJP period would be inquired into.
