Bangalore:
Two months after it came to power in Karnataka, the Congress government today will launch its much-hyped 'one rupee a kg rice' scheme, which promises more than one crore households below poverty line in the state upto 30 kg of rice at that rate.
The big launch, however, has been marred by the ongoing infighting within the Karnataka Congress. The state party chief G Parameshwara's name does not figure in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's guest list.
Though the scheme was part of the Congress manifesto, Mr Siddaramaiah's announcement that they would be implemented within days of forming the government and even before forming a ministry, led to heartburn among many in the party.
The scheme, likely to cost the state exchequer a whopping Rs 4200 crore, has already come under criticism. Since Karnataka is not a rice-producing state, rice will need to be imported. The corporate sector says this populist scheme is for political gains.
Karnataka gets 1,78,000 tonnes of rice from the Centre every month and needs additional 1,07,000 tonnes to implement the initiative.