CM Siddaramaiah pays calls on President Murmu; to meet Amit Shah amid row over rice scheme

New Delhi: Congress-ruled Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday paid a courtesy visit to President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

He is also scheduled to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah amid a row over the state rice scheme.

This was Siddaramaiah’s first visit to the national capital after being sworn in as chief minister on May 20.

”I met the President. This is my first visit after becoming the CM. I will be meeting Home Minister Amit Shah at 9 pm. This is a courtesy visit. I will raise the rice issue,” Siddarmaiah told reporters.

Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal is not in town to discuss the issue and the time has not been sought for a meeting with him yet, he said.

Karnataka’s food and civil supplies minister KH Muniyapp, Housing Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa and Environment Minister Eshwara Khandre are also in Delhi.

The state government wants rice from the central pool for the implementation of its poll promise of 10 kg free rice to BPL cardholders under the state scheme ‘Anna Bhagya’. But recently, the central government discontinued the sale of rice to all state governments in view of inflationary pressure.