Amid a spiralling controversy over Amul versus Karnataka’s Nandini brand, members of a pro-Kannada organisation on Monday staged a demonstration against the Gujarat based dairy cooperative in Bengaluru.
Police detained the members of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike and took them into preventive custody.
Amul vs Nandini or BJP vs Congress?
The entire controversy has successfully taken the shape of a political slugfest right ahead of the assembly polls in Karnataka.
The ruling BJP in the State and the opposition Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) have been engaged in a war of words in recent days after the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation announced its plans to sell Amul milk and curd through quick commerce platforms in Bengaluru.
Leaders of the Congress and JD (S) criticised the move saying it would hurt the interests of the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), which owns Nandini brand.
Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Sunday said: "It was Gujarat's Baroda Bank that subsumed our Vijaya Bank. Ports and Airports were handed over to Gujarat's Adani. Now, Amul from Gujarat is planning to eat our KMF (Nandini). Mr Narendra Modi, are we the enemies for Gujaratis?"
The BJP on Sunday accused the Congress of unleashing a "misinformation campaign" over dairy cooperative Amul's presence in Karnataka and asserted that it has done far more than the opposition party to strengthen the Karnataka Milk Federation and its products are sold under the brand name Nandini.
Hitting back at the Congress, the BJP’s IT Cell in-charge Amit Malviya said Amul and the KMF are neither merging, nor Amul is entering Karnataka.
"KMF is nation’s second largest milk cooperative. KMF has depots in Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. 15% of KMF’s total sales is outside Karnataka. Nandini is exported to Singapore, UAE and many other countries. Amul and KMF are NOT merging,” Malviya tweeted on Sunday.
He slammed the Congress for "spreading lies" against his party’s government in Karnataka.
Malviya said, "There is a reason why India doesn't TRUST Congress. They LIE! Latest being the misinformation campaign that Karnataka Milk Federation, which owns Nandini, is going to merge with Amul."
The BJP leader said, "15 per cent of KMF's total sales is outside Karnataka. Nandini is exported to Singapore, UAE and many other countries. Amul and KMF are NOT merging."
He also claimed that Amul, owned by Gujarat Milk Marketing Federation, is not entering Karnataka and that both Amul and KMF sell their products across quick-commerce platforms.
He added, "Under the BJP, Karnataka is a milk surplus state. Dairy farmers are doing very well. Congress, which is shedding crocodile tears for brand Nandini, opposed the anti-cow slaughter bill, approved of our nandinis being slaughtered. BJP plans to make Nandini a bigger brand."
On Monday, in an apparent gesture to express solidarity with the KMF, Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar visited a Nandini Milk parlour in Hassan and bought some of its products.
Milk production coming down in Karnataka
Meanwhile, the Bangalore Milk Union Limited (BAMUL), part of KMF, said milk production has come down in the State due to the onset of summer. However, the Karnataka State Hotels’ Association (KSHA) alleged that an "artificial scarcity" of Nandini products has been created to "favour" Amul in Karnataka.
"There is a reduction in milk production in the State from about 90 lakh litres a day to about 75 lakh litres a day due to which some people may be facing scarcity. There is nothing unusual about it," P Nagaraju, Director, BAMUL, told PTI.
Nagaraju said Nandini sends 2.5 lakh litres of milk to Mumbai, 1.5 lakh litres to Hyderabad and another batch of milk to Andhra Pradesh every day for supply to school children of those States. The milk production is now improving, he added.
KSHA president Chandrashekhar Hebbar alleged: "There is an attempt to create scarcity of Nandini in favour of Amul. We get to know this. Nandini Ghee, which is of superior quality, is not available these days".
He claimed that he was buying Nandini Ghee in the "black market".
