Rahul Gandhi to inaugurate Congress' ambitious Indira canteen in Bengaluru on Wednesday

101 canteens will open doors to public on Wednesday.

Karnataka Congress' ambitious Indira canteen will be inaugurated on Wednesday by AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi. 101 units of the subsidised canteen will open its doors to public starting Wednesday.

Rahul Gandhi will inaugurate one unit of the canteen named after his grand mother and former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. Amid still opposition to the name, the Congress chose to call the units 'Indira canteen' instead of 'Namma canteen'. Posters of Indira Gandhi are plastered across the canteen to drive home a point as the state is headed towards assembly elections.

While Rahul Gandhi will inaugurate and have lunch prepared at the Kanakanapalya unit in south Bengaluru along with several Congress leaders, remaining 100 canteens across the city will start serving food to customers from Wednesday evening. 101 out of the planned 198 canteens are ready to open doors to the public on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced the subsidised canteen scheme during his budget speech this year. Along the lines of Amma canteen in Tamil Nadu, Indira Canteen will provide quality food for the urban poor in subsidised prices. The JD(S) in an attempt to counter the Congress' canteen politics, had launched 'Appaji canteen' earlier in July.

Rahul Gandhi is expected to inaugurate the canteen unit in South Bengaluru at 11.30 after which he will address a public gathering. He will leave for New Delhi on Wednesday evening accompanied by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

On the inaugural day, all 101 units of Indira canteen will provide free food to the public. "The canteens will start off by dishing out 500 meals in each session i.e., breakfast, lunch and dinner. Based on the response we receive we will work on the numbers," said BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad. The canteens will serve breakfast for Rs 5 and lunch and dinner for Rs 10 each.

OneIndia News