Kerala CPM, CPI fight it out over rice procurement

Left camaraderie may have helped Kerala procure rice from West Bengal following its worst ever food shortage...

Left camaraderie may have helped Kerala procure rice from West Bengal following its worst ever food shortage, but the ‘Bengal connection’ has snowballed into a political controversy that have seen the two major allies in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) — the CPI(M) and the CPI — going all out to outdo each other.

After the Union Government turned down Kerala’s demand for additional rice allotment, the Left parties had decided to get it from “its own” state, West Bengal. Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan met his West Bengal counterpart Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and explored the possibilities of a permanent tie-up between the two states to ensure a steady supply of rice. It was decided that West Bengal would meet Kerala’s requirements in a time bound manner and the two CMs decided to take up the issue officially.

The CPI-controlled Kerala Civil Supplies Cooperation, the nodal agency for grain procurement, wrote to the West Bengal Essential Commodities Supply Corporation before a five-member team of Food and Civil Supplies Department, headed by Food Secretary K R Jyothilal, visited Kolkata to initiate the process.

Story continues below this ad

Everything was fine until the two Left parties started fighting each other to have control over the Government’s much touted ‘Food Security Scheme’. Alleging that the CPI, which is in charge of the Agriculture Ministry there, had not utilised its funds properly, the Finance Department controlled by the CPI(M) turned down CPI’s demand for additional fund for the scheme. Things went to such a pass that CPI ministers had staged a walkout during a Food Security Scheme meeting.

While the CPI team was finalising the deal with the West Bengal Government the Co-operative Department under CPI(M) control met CPI(M) politburo member and state Industries Minister Nirupam Sen and procured 2,000 tonnes of rice from Bengal scoring brownie points over the CPI. The CPI(M) now plans to distribute the rice through the outlets under the Co-operation Department and not through the Civil Supplies Corporation under the CPI.