BENGALURU: Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said there are attempts to weaken the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah are responsible for such attempts.
He said lakhs of families in the state depend on KMF, but the dairy sector has taken a hit after Shah spoke about merging KMF with Amul. When Kannadigas strongly opposed such a proposal, Amul is now making a backdoor entry, the former CM alleged. Since the last few days, there has been a shortage of KMF milk and curd in the market, and Amul products are doing brisk business, he said.
“Gujarat-based Amul had earlier also tried to enter the Karnataka market, but we did not allow it. Now, the BJP has rolled out a red carpet for it,” he said. During BJP rule, milk collection in the state reduced from 99 lakh litres to 71 lakh litres a day, he said and added that all Kannadigas must oppose any attempt to weaken KMF, and take a vow not to purchase Amul products.