The Karnataka government on Monday faced massive criticism after the state’s milk brand Nandini lost a multi-crore contract to supply ghee to the famous Tirupati temple for prasadam. The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), which sells its dairy products under the brand name Nandini, on Sunday informed that it will not supply ghee to make the famous laddus given as ‘prasad’ at the renowned Tirumala Venkateswara Temple in Andhra Pradesh.
KMF Chairman Bheema Naik said Nandini is known for its quality, and it cannot compromise on the price and hence did not participate in the tender process as required by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the trust that manages the temple. Naik said that about one year ago the TTD called for a tender and asked Nandini to participate in the tender. “We cannot give ghee at the competitive rate, because in the e-procurement tender, whoever quotes the lowest rate will get it. But our rate is fixed. We said we will supply ghee at our rate, but they (TTD) said they won’t give that amount. So we are not supplying,” Naik, who is from Congress, said.
However, some social media users blamed the Congress government saying it raised the prices of Nandini milk, because of which the federation cannot sell ghee at earlier prices. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, a user said that Tirupati Balaji in Andhra Pradesh decided not to use Karnataka’s brand of Nandini Ghee because of the price hike by the Karnataka Congress. “For the last 50 years, TTD has been using the Nandini brand. This is how to shut down the biggest Milk federation. Congress at its best,” the user said.
Aashish, another X user, said the Karnataka Milk Federation used to provide 14 lakh kgs of Nandini Ghee (6 months period) for Tirupati laddoos. “Assuming a cost of 300 Rs/Kg. That’s a loss of around 42 crore revenue to Nandini. All because @RahulGandhi state Govt decided to increase the price,” he said.
Ganesh, another user, referred to the Amul vs Nandini controversy created by Congress in the run-up to the assembly election. He said that on 11 April 2023, he had feared Tirupati discontinuing the Nandini brand and his fear turned out to be real today. “These Congi with their election time Kannada “pride” and irrational price hikes will kill a successful brand,” he said, adding that ultimate sufferers will be the Karnataka farmers.
The Karnataka cabinet had on July 27 cleared the proposal by the state-run milk federation to hike the selling prices of its Nandini milk by Rs 3 per litre, which will come into effect from August 1.
BJP’s CT Ravi, too, targeted the ruling party and said the Congress “shamelessly” politicised Nandini issue during the assembly elections and milked it to malign Amul. “After coming to power, the CONgress government increased the price of milk thereby making it impossible for Nandini to supply its ghee to the TTD board at the earlier price,” he said.
“Thanks to the incompetent CONgress government, Nandini will no longer supply ghee to prepare the famous Tirupati Laddus. It is very evident that CONgress is hell-bent on destroying Suvarna Karnataka to pursue its agenda.”
However, Naik said that the supply of ghee to TTD has been stopped for more than a year now and is not a recent event.
