Rice row: Siddaramaiah in Delhi to meet President Murmu, Shah

Amid the row over the Karnataka government's Anna Bhagya rice scheme, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reached Delhi on Wednesday to meet President Droupadi Murmu and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Meanwhile, Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa will meet Union Minister Piyush Goyal to urge the Centre to resume the sale of grains from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to state governments.

Why does this story matter?

The recently-elected Congress government in Karnataka promised in its poll manifesto to implement the Anna Bhagya rice scheme, which would reportedly provide 10kg of free rice to each member of below poverty line (BPL) families. However, the Siddaramaiah government is struggling to acquire the required amount of rice for the scheme as the centrally-governed FCI stopped selling rice to state governments on June 12.

Siddaramaiah to pay courtesy visit to president

Siddaramaiah earlier said he would pay a courtesy visit to President Murmu, his first since coming to power. He added that he would meet Shah in his capacity as the Union home minister. According to Siddaramaiah's tour program, his return journey is open.

Karnataka received only 1.5 lakh metric tons rice from Chhattisgarh

The Karnataka government reportedly needed 2.28 lakh metric tons of rice per month. However, so far, it has been able to secure only 1.5 lakh metric tons a month from Chhattisgarh, another Congress-ruled state which is among the highest rice-producing states in the country. The Karnataka government earlier promised to implement the scheme from July 1.

BJP, Congress hold demonstrations against each other

The Congress-led Karnataka government has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre of obstructing the implementation of the Anna Bhagya Guarantee Scheme by stopping the sale of rice and wheat to state governments under the FCI's Open Market Supply Scheme. Meanwhile, the BJP's Karnataka unit protested against the Congress government, demanding it to implement all guarantees without resorting to blame games.

Punjab offers to supply rice to Karnataka

While the Congress and the BJP held demonstrations, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s Punjab government reportedly stepped forward on Monday and offered to supply the required amount of rice to Karnataka. Notably, the Anna Bhagya scheme raises the amount of free rice provided to BPL card holders from the current 5kg to 10kg, costing around Rs. 840 crore monthly to the state exchequer.