BENGALURU: As Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) continued their tirade against the BJP government in the state over the alleged conspiracy to weaken the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai hit out at Opposition leaders saying they are trying to spread lies to create confusion. Congress and JDS leaders are indulging in low-level politics by trying to spread lies about the KMF ‘Nandini’ brand to create confusion among farmers and the general public, the CM said.
“There is a lot of demand for Nandini milk in many states and even abroad. Milk procurement has increased from 84 lakh litres per day in 2018 to 94 lakh litres per day now and curd production has increased from 4.76 lakh litres to 7.60 lakh litres per day,” Bommai said.
“Our production, procurement and sales have increased. Nandini has 85% of the market share in Karnataka,” the CM said and added that many products have come into the market, but Nandini has faced the competition efficiently.
“The Opposition should stop trying to politicise the issue. People should not trust the lies being spread by them,” he said strongly refuting the allegation that Amul products are allowed into Karnataka to weaken KMF.
The Opposition, however, continued to target the government and even termed it as Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah’s deliberate attempt to make Nandini less competitive and destroy its identity. “It is actually a sinister plot of Amit Shah to control more and more cooperatives outside Gujarat, which are then misused politically during elections,” the Congress alleged taking to a social media platform.
“The previous Congress government in the state increased production by giving an incentive of Rs 5 per litre to farmers under the Ksheera Bhagya scheme. As a result, milk production increased manifold. In 2018, it was 75 lakh litres per day, while in 2014, it was 43 lakh litres. Under the BJP government, the incentive was not increased at all and milk production in the state has fallen to 70 lakh litres, creating scarcity in retail and hospitality sectors,” the Congress alleged.
KMF RUBBISHES MERGER, CALLS IT RUMOUR
Bengaluru: The Karnataka Co-operative Milk Producers Federation Limited (KMF) rubbished apprehensions expressed by a few over its merger with another bigger milk cooperative as a rumour. The KMF is the second biggest cooperative milk federation producing 85 lakh litres of milk each day procured from 26 lakh farmers, read a statement issued by the KMF managing director. The federation plans to increase procurement to take it to 1 crore liters per day, it added.
Rubbishing rumours doing the rounds on social media platforms about KMF’s merger with a bigger cooperative federation (Amul), the KMF said it is far from the truth and there is no such development. The KMF also made it clear that it has not entered into any agreement with any cooperative or milk producers’ cooperative federation for expanding its business or increasing milk procurement.
Known for its good quality and competitive prices, Nandini is competing with other brands, the release added. Over seven lakh litres of milk and curd are sold in Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Goa. “The KMF has taken up many projects to expand it across the country,” the KMF said and asked customers not to pay heed to rumours.
DKS VISITS NANDINI MILK PARLOUR
Hassan: Amid the controversy over Amul’s entry into Karnataka, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar on Monday visited a Nandini parlour in Hassan and purchased milk and other products to express his support for the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF).
Speaking to reporters here, Shivakumar urged people to purchase Nandini milk and other KMF products to support and save farmers and milk producers of Karnataka.
The Kanakapura MLA said that the need of the hour is to protect Brand Nandini. He said the duty of a State Government is to protect lakhs of families that depend on milk cooperative societies. Shivakumar said that CM Basavaraj Bommai should make his stand clear on the controversy.