JDS beats Congress to launching low-cost canteens

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddharamaiah holding a meeting on Indira Canteen in Bengaluru on Friday. (Source: PTI Photo)

Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal Secular (JDS) on Wednesday beat Karnataka’s Congress government to launching low-cost canteen modelled on Tamil Nadu’s Amma canteens. The Congress is scheduled to launch the first of 198 Indira canteens in Bengaluru on August 15.

Gowda, his wife, Chennamma, and priest Nanjavadoota Swamiji launched jeweller and JDS legislator T A Saravana’s ‘Namma Appaji Canteen’ dedicated to the former Prime Minister. Saravana said he had no political intention in launching the canteen ahead of the Congress.

“Some people are saying I have launched the Namma Appaji Canteen to counter the state government’s Indira Canteen. This is completely false,’’ he said.