The Karnataka Milk Federation Chairman said that they will not be supplying ghee from to 'Nandini' brand anymore to make the prasad laddus at Tirumala Venkateswara Temple in Andhra Pradesh.
KMF Chairman Bheema Naik said that they could not compromise on the price as they claim to provide high-quality products. That is why they did not participate in the tender process that the temple trust Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams asked for.
According to reports, KMF has been supplying ghee to TTD for many years. TTD has expressed on numerous occasions that the laddus taste better because of the high-quality KMF ghee.
During a media briefing on Sunday, Naik discussed the recent increase in the prices of Nandini milk. He also mentioned the TTD issue. On July 27, the Karnataka cabinet approved KMF's proposal to raise the selling prices of Nandini milk by Rs three per litre. These new prices will take effect on August 1.
He told the media, "For many years, KMF ghee was used for Tirupati Laddu. I'm of the belief that no other ghee can stand up to the quality of Nandini ghee; our customers have given us this 100 per cent certification."
He also said, "About one year ago they (TTD) called for a tender and asked us 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," he added.
Noting that the current supplier is supplying ghee to TTD at a very low rate compared to KMF, Naik said, "It may be of the lesser quality compared to ours, but they too might have done testing as they too have labs."
Naik said that the Andhra Pradesh government and TTD will make a decision on this.
Naik stated that there is currently a high demand for KMF ghee. However, KMF is only able to fulfil 60 per cent of this demand and is unable to meet the remaining 40 per cent.
He then said, "So, we have decided to increase the milk procurement. We also need to stock butter, as there is huge demand for it and we don't have enough stock of butter, so our intention is by giving Rs 3 or 5 extra to farmers, procurement can be increased, and with this intention we had placed our request before the CM."
What did BJP say?
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader C T Ravi took a hit out at the Congress government in the state on the issue. He wrote on Twitter, "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 TTD board at the earlier price. 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," he tweeted.
Congress leader Bheema Naik pointed out that the supply of ghee to TTD has been stopped for more than a year now and is not a recent occurrence.
A controversy had erupted ahead of the Assembly polls in May this year, after the Gujarat-based dairy cooperative Amul’s announcement that it would enter the Karnataka market to supply its milk and curd.
A section including then-opposition Congress and JD(S) had expressed apprehension that Nandini, the KMF brand, could be merged with Amul, and had targeted the then-ruling BJP in the state and Union Cooperative Minister Amit Shah for it. BJP had rejected the charge.
