CM Siddaramaiah firefights after Dr G Parameshwar attack

Bengaluru: Rising to the defence of KPCC president, Dr G Parameshwar, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said  he agreed with him that all was not well in the way the Anna Bhagya scheme was being implemented in the state.

Pointing out that the scheme was not his brain-child, but an ambitious programme of the  Congress manifesto drawn up before the elections, he told reporters here, “I have spoken to Dr Parameshwar  and he has  clarified that he has not spoken against the government. 

I agree there are some lacunae in implementing the scheme and see no need to blow the issue out of proportion.'' The problem was relatively minor and  centered around identifying beneficiaries of the scheme, according to  him.

The government had not yet removed the names of ineligible beneficiaries, and updated the list with those who were more deserving, he explained.  “Also, there have been complaints of Public Distribution System(PDS) rice being sold in the black market. However, these are minor problems, which will be corrected administratively,” he added.

To a question, Mr Siddaramaiah said  there was no proposal before the government to reduce PDS supplies for BPL cardholders and extend the programme to APL cardholders.

Asked about  the Union government’s move to reduce fund allocation under the rural employment scheme, he said it would mean more hardship for the poor  in rural areas of the state.

“We will take up the issue with the Centre and if need be will take a delegation to persuade it to continue the original scheme,”  he assured.