Tamil Nadu: War of words between Annamalai, TRB Rajaa over Stalin’s letter on ‘Amul’

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], June 2 (ANI): A war of words broke out between Tamil Nadu minister TRB Rajaa and state BJP chief K Annamalai on Thursday over Chief Minister MK Stalin’s letter to Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue of milk procurement by Amul.

The matter pertains to the letter, CM Stalin wrote to Shah requesting “urgent intervention” in directing Amul to desist from milk procurement from the milk shed area of Aavin in the state.
Tamil Nadu unit of BJP had tweeted accusing CM Stalin of writing a “wrong letter” to Home Minister Amit Shah.

Taking a jibe at it, Tamil Nadu Minister TRB Rajaa claimed that Amul being a cooperative comes under the Ministry of Cooperation headed by Amit Shah.

“Looks like the TN unit of the BJP needs to read much more than the 20000+ books that it already says it has The Constitution would be a good start but let them atleast read the List of Ministries in the Union Cabinet! #Amul is a cooperative and the Union Minister for Cooperation, which oversees policies for cooperatives, is Honourable Thiru #AmitShah,” he said in the tweet.

Rajaa added, “TN BJP seems to have zero knowledge about their own #government and of #governance too. When are they going to stop embarrassing other leaders of the BJP? The joke is on them!”

Responding to this, Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai said that the matter is being resolved National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and it works under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

“A man who runs on his father’s legacy and the chairman of DMK dimwits will need some schooling on the functions of various Ministries in the Central government. It is National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) that is resolving the cross-border marketing issues between Amul and Nandini, and Nandini and Milma,” he said in his tweet.

He added, “NDDB works under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. It is a pity you are a Minister of Industries for the State government of TN”.

Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin on May 25 had requested “urgent intervention” from Amit Shah to direct Amul to “desist from milk procurement” from the milk shed area of Aavin in Tamil Nadu with immediate effect.

Stalin said in his letter that the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union (Amul), has utilised their multi-state cooperative licence, to install chilling centres and a processing plant in Krishnagiri District and has planned to procure milk through FPOs and SHGs in and around Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupathur, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts in the State of Tamil Nadu.

“It has been a norm in India to let cooperatives thrive without infringing on each other’s milk-shed area, and also said such cross-procurement goes against the spirit of ‘Operation White Flood’ and will exacerbate problems for the consumers given the prevailing milk shortage scenario in the country,” he said in the letter.

Stalin added, “This act of Amul infringes on Aavin’s milk shed area which has been nurtured in true cooperative spirit over decades. This move by Amul will create unhealthy competition between cooperatives engaged in procuring and marketing milk and milk products. Regional cooperatives have been the bedrock of dairy development in the states and they are better placed to engage and nurture producers and to cushion consumers from arbitrary price hikes”.

Stalin further stated in the letter that Aavin has played a huge role in the state and is Tamil Nadu’s apex cooperative marketing federation.

“Under the ambit of Aavin co-operative, 9,673 Milk Producers Co-operative Societies are functioning in rural areas. They procure 35 LLPD of milk from about 4.5 lakh pouring members,” he added.