The political slugfest over Amul’s entry into the Karnataka market continued on Monday, with the BJP taking swipes at former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and alleging that he first introduced the Gujarat state milk cooperative brand to the state in 2017. A day after former CM Siddaramiah hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accused the BJP of “stealing” the Nandini brand operated by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), Bengaluru Central MP PC Mohan said in a tweet: “2017 – Congress introduces Amul Milk in Karnataka; 2023 – Starts a fallacious Save Nandini campaign against the sale of Amul products in Karnataka . The Congress party, much like its leader, is in a state of perpetual paradox ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections 2023.” In a tweet, Mysore-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha asked: “Who was the Chief Minister when Amul entered Karnataka in 2017, Siddaramaiah?” Accusing Siddaramaiah of “double standards”, Tamil Nadu state BJP chief Annamalai said: “The 43rd Annual General Body meeting of Amul held on 15.06.2017 said that Amul had expanded its fresh products footprint by launching Amul Milk in Northern Karnataka among other regions. Undoubtedly, brands like Aavin from my State and Nandini from Karnataka are the pride of the respective states and milk-producing farmers. In 2014, Nandini Milk was launched in TN during the former CM Siddaramiah’s tenure.” Speaking to reporters, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, “Our Nandini milk has national and international demand. It is available in all states and is being exported to foreign countries as well. Milk procured by KMF from farmers has increased from 66.3 Lakh Liters per day under the Congress regime to 82.4 lakh litres now. I totally condemn the politics played by Congress around this issue.” Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar also visited a Nandini store in Hassan on Monday and purchased products to stand in solidarity with Karnataka’s dairy farmers. Earlier in the day, Kannada Rakshana Vedike, a pro-Kannada group, protested in Bengaluru and called for Amul’s boycott. The 43rd Amul general body meeting expanded the cooperative’s “fresh product footprint” by “launching Amul Milk in Chandigarh city, several towns of Himachal Pradesh, North Bengal including Siliguri, towns of northern Karnataka and Jabalpur”. Speaking to The Indian Express, Amul’s managing director Jayen Mehta said their brand was “currently selling 6000-8000 litres of milk per day in Belgaum and Hubli, while Nandini, is selling 1.25-1.3 lakh litres of milk per day.” The controversy over Amul started when the Gujarat-based dairy company announced its entry in Bengaluru on April 5.
