The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has demanded the State government stop encouraging Amul Dairy instead of the defunct Chittoor Dairy. The party’s former Rajya Sabha member P. Madhu, at a media conference in Tirupati on July 3, accused the State government of having turned into a puppet in the hands of the BJP-led Union government and hence playing to the latter’s tunes. The demand comes a day ahead of the scheduled visit of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to Chittoor to perform ‘Bhumi Puja’ for the Amul Dairy.

“The government officials are holding camps to threaten farmers to supply milk to Amul and not to Visakha or Vijaya dairies. This is how the cooperative dairies are systematically dismantled in the State” – P. Madhu, Former CPI(M) MP.

Mr. Madhu alleged that the Centre-supported Amul was trying to snatch away the dairy farmers supplying milk for Chittoor Dairy and expressed fear that the Gujarat-based dairy is serving the ‘vested interests’ instead of the local cattle rearers. “The proceeds from Amul Dairy’s expansion will go to Gujarat and will not be spent locally for the benefit of the farmers”, he said.

Recalling that the Visakha Dairy and Vijaya Dairy, functioning under the cooperative sector, were offering an additional ₹12 per litre to the farmers, Mr. Madhu said that such a dairy was being offered on a platter to Amul.

“The government officials are holding camps to threaten farmers to supply milk to Amul and not to Visakha or Vijaya dairies. This is how the cooperative dairies are systematically dismantled in the State,” he alleged.