Karnataka Congress Chief: Don't Need Gujarat Model For Milk Cooperatives

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar on Tuesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party should not shield its MLA Aravind Limbavali in the alleged suicide case of a Bengaluru businessman.

On Sunday, a 47-year-old Bengaluru businessman allegedly shot himself in the head inside his car here, said the police.

The dead has been identified as Pradeep S. He left behind an eight-page suicide note in English holding six people, including BJP MLA Aravind Limbavali, responsible for him taking the extreme step. He ended his life in the car near Kaggalipura.

While talking about Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent statement on two milk cooperatives in Mandya, Mr Shivakumar said, "I condemn Amit Shah's statement, he has once again proved that BJP has no leader in Karnataka, Amit Shah and Modi come to Karnataka again and again, BJP has no leader in Karnataka."

"Recently, when Amit Shah came to Karnataka, he talked about Amul and Nandini, we don't need Amul technology, our brand Nandini is the best, it's better to make Karnataka than Gujarat model, we don't need Gujarat model in Karnataka," he added.

On Friday, Mr Shah in Bengaluru suggested that Amul and Nandini, two successful milk unions, could work towards the welfare of the country's milk producers, initiating a "white revolution".

However, on Sunday, Cooperation Minister S.T. Somashekar clarified that the statement did not mean a merger of the two milk cooperatives --- Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) and Gujarat-based Anand Milk Union Ltd (AMUL).

On Sunday, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai defended Mr Shah and said that Nandini Dairy will always maintain its separate identity in the coming years.

Mr Bommai told reporters here that the merger of Nandini into AMUL is a wrong imagination.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)