TRS seizes Heritage Milk issue to hit back at TDP

The issue of Heritage Milk rocked the Telangana Assembly on Wednesday, with Telangna Rashtra Samiti (TRS) members demanding a ban on the products of the Chandrababu Naidu-owned company in the state after safety concerns forced Tamil Nadu to ban them.

The treasury benches, agitated by the Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) onslaught over issues like farmers’ suicides, found ammunition in the Heritage Milk issue to get back at the opposition.  They wanted to know the action taken against Heritage Foods, after Tamil Nadu Food Safety commissioner banned its milk products along with two others.

Telangana education minister G Jagadeeswar Reddy cited reports in some newspapers that formalin or formaldehyde, a chemical preservative, was detected in the Heritage milk samples tested at the Government Analysts Lab in Tamil Nadu. “If contamination is found in milk produced by any firm including Heritage we will initiate action,” the minister assured the house.

“The Kerala Government already banned the product way back in 2012 stating that formalin is added as preservative and it is injurious to health. We want the Telangana government to follow suit and ban the Heritage milk immediately,” TRS MLA Srinivas Goud demanded.

However, addressing the media at the media point, TDP MLA Revanth Reddy said the Kerala government had lifted the ban after verifying the facts.  “The TRS government should check its facts first. A team from Kerala has visited the Heritage factory and found the processing safe and clean. They (then) lifted the ban immediately,” Revanth Reddy said.

He accused TRS of mudslinging to hurt his party leader Chandrababu Naidu’s interests in Telangana.  The YSR Congress has been demanding ban on Heritage products even before the state’s division. “The State should also order a full-fledged inquiry into the processing of the milk by the company,” a party spokesperson said.