From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Apr 28: The Karnataka Congress has hit out at food and civil supplies and consumer affairs minister Umesh Katti for abusing a farmer and asking him to 'die' for seeking a higher allocation of food grains under the public distribution system during the lockdown.

The opposition party demanded that chief minister B S Yediyurappa, who prides himself as a champion of farmers, should immediately sack the minister from the Cabinet for showing insensitivity to the people, especially the farmers who are hailed as the ‘Annadatas’ during the lockdown.

Minister Umesh Katti

KPCC president, D K Shivakumar, on Wednesday, tweeted “BJP minister Umesh Katti has abused a citizen & asked him to ‘go die’ just because he asked him why Karnataka Govt has cut Rice under PDS to just 2 kg! CM@BSYBJP must immediately throw him out of the Cabinet for this most insensitive statement. Does this Govt have any shame?”

Yediyurappa has already expressed regret over the minister’s statement and promised to provide five kg of rice per month instead of three kg for people of the Belagavi region.

Meanwhile, Umesh Katti, said that he was forced to utter unwanted words as he was provoked by a caller over the phone.

The BJP minister clarified about the viral audio of his conversation with a young farmer and said the farmer had forced him to speak in such a manner.

However, Katti has neither tendered an apology nor expressed his regret over his remarks.

The Congress party has decided to launch a letter-writing campaign from Thursday seeking 10 kg of rice for each member of a poor family.

Shivakumar said party workers have been told to launch the letter-writing campaign demanding 10 kg of rice for each member of the family per month.

All letters would be addressed to chief minister B S Yediyurappa, the KPCC chief said.