Political tussle unfolds as BJP MP alleges in LS that Karnataka is mismanaging urea supply while Minister accuses him of lying

The political tussle over urea shortage figured in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, with BJP member K. Sudhakar raising the issue and accusing the Karnataka government of mismanaging the available stock. This triggered a stern response from Karnataka Agriculture Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy, who termed the BJP MP’s claims of the Centre supplying adequate quantum of urea as an “utter lie”.

Raising the issue of urea shortage in Karnataka during the zero hour in the Lok Sabha, Dr. Sudhakar claimed that the Centre had supplied 8,13,000 tonnes of urea to Karnataka despite global conflicts. But, he alleged that the Karnataka government, “which is mired in corruption”, had meted out injustice to farmers by failing to effectively distribute it.

He appealed to the Centre to intervene and direct the Karnataka Chief Secretary to effectively distribute the urea stock among farmers.

N. Cheluvarayaswamy
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‘Lying through teeth’

Responding sharply to this, Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy alleged that the MP was “lying through his teeth”. The Minister reiterated that though the Centre had allocated 6.82 lakh tonnes of urea to the State from April to July, it had actually supplied only 5.46 lakh tonnes. The State had tried to mitigate the shortage situation with the help of its opening stocks from the previous season that amounted to 3,46,498.74 tonnes, he explained.

Squarely blaming the Centre’s “short supply” for the present problem in the State, the Minister maintained that Dr. Sudhakar should have urged the Centre to release the remaining quantum of 1,36,109 tonnes of urea instead of accusing the State of mismanaging the supply, if he was really concerned about farmers.

CM’s letter to Centre

Pointing out that already the Chief Minister had brought the issue to the notice of the Centre by writing to the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy said he had sought an appointment with the Union Fertilisers Minister to seek the supply of remaining quantum of urea stock.

Presently, the State is trying to manage the shortage situation by supplying additional stocks from different areas to the districts which have more demand.