Red wheat: Cong blames MP govt

Bhopal, Jan 15 (UNI) Pointing out that distribution of foodgrain under the Public Distribution System (PDS) was a state subject, Leader of the Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Jamuna Devi today said that if customers were receiving substandard wheat then the state government was responsible for it.

''Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is speaking of inferior-quality red wheat. He should provide an answer to why substandard wheat was lifted and distributed through PDS. In such a situation, the Bharatiya Janata Party regime should stop distribution of substandard wheat,'' the Congress leader said in a statement issued here.

Alleging that the state government did not purchase wheat at support price, Ms Devi felt that was why it was having to rely on imported wheat. Objecting to Mr Chouhan's expressing anger over distribution of red wheat, during his sudden inspection of the Food Corporation of India's local godown yesterday, she said that it was improper from the constitutional point of view.

Expressing annoyance over supply of imported ''substandard'' red wheat to Madhya Pradesh under PDS, Mr Chouhan yesterday said that he would raise the matter during his New Delhi visit on January 22 and demand immediate cessation of such supply.

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